Some lives are tragic, some ridiculous. Most are both at once. Edward Abbey More Quotes by Edward Abbey More Quotes From Edward Abbey Simply because humankind have the power now to meddle or 'manage' or 'exercise stewardship' in every nook and cranny of the world does not mean that we have a right to do so. Even less, the obligation. Edward Abbey doeexercisemean Guns don't kill people; people kill people. Of course, people with guns kill more people. But that's only natural. It's hard. But it's fair. Edward Abbey gunnaturalpeople I stand for what I stand on. Edward Abbey There is science, logic, reason; there is thought verified by experience. And then there is California. Edward Abbey crazyfuntravel No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets. Edward Abbey gadgetsclerksgovernment I suppose each of us has his own fantasy of how he wants to die. I would like to go out in a blaze of glory, myself, or maybe simply disappear someday, far out in the heart of the wilderness I love, all by myself, alone with the Universe and whatever God may happen to be looking on. Disappear - and never return. That's my fantasy. Edward Abbey wantheartmay I would never betray a friend to serve a cause. Never reject a friend to help an institution. Great nations may fall in ruin before I would sell a friend to save them. Edward Abbey betrayalfriendshipfall Government should be weak, amateurish and ridiculous. At present, it fulfills only a third of the role. Edward Abbey libertyrolesgovernment Wilderness and motors are incompatible and the former can best be experienced, understood and enjoyed when the machines are left behind where they belong -- on the superhighways and in the parking lots, on the reservoirs and in the marinas. Edward Abbey wildernessleft-behindmachines As a confirmed melancholic, I can testify that the best and maybe only antidote for melancholia is action. However, like most melancholics, I suffer also from sloth. Edward Abbey slothsufferingaction The fire. The odor of burning juniper is the sweetest fragrance on the face of the earth, in my honest judgment; I doubt if all the smoking censers of Dante's paradise could equal it. One breath of juniper smoke, like the perfume of sagebrush after rain, evokes in magical catalysis, like certain music, the space and light and clarity and piercing strangeness of the American West. Long may it burn. Edward Abbey lightfirerain Ah yes, the head is full of books. The hard part is to force them down through the bloodstream and out through the fingers. Edward Abbey forcefocusbook An economic system which can only expand or expire must be false to all that is human. Edward Abbey growthpoliticalphilosophy Not all questions can be answered. Edward Abbey No man is wise enough to be another man's master. Each man's as good as the next -- if not a damn sight better. Edward Abbey wisesightmen Truth is merely common sense, say the naive realist. Really? Then where, Edward Abbey eyeairsomewhere-else At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, "thus far and no further." If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, "If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour. Edward Abbey regretpridehome Saving the world was merely a hobby. My *vocation* has been that of Edward Abbey hobbiesdesertwater Let us praise the noble turkey vulture: No one envies him; he harms nobody; and he contemplates our little world from a most serene and noble height. Edward Abbey turkeysenvylittles In the Soviet Union, government controls industry. In the United States, industry controls government. That is the principal structural difference between the two great oligarchies of our time. Edward Abbey differencesgovernmenttwo
