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Quotations by Edward Abbey

My loyalties will not be bound by borders - My loyalties will not be bound by national borders, or confined in time by one nation's history, or limited in the spiritual dimension by one language and culture. I pledge my allegiance to the damned human race, and my everlasting love to the green hills of Earth, and my intimations of glory to the singing stars, to the very end of space and time.

It is not enough to fight for the land - It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it's still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space.

Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.

This is the most beautiful place on Earth - This is the most beautiful place on earth. There are many such places. Every man, every woman, carries in heart and mind the image of the ideal place, the right place, the one true home, known or unknown, actual or visionary.

A houseboat in Kashmir, a view down Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, a gray gothic farmhouse two stories high at the end of a red dog road in the Allegheny Mountains, a cabin on the shore of a blue lake in spruce and fir country, a greasy alley near the Hoboken waterfront, or even, possibly, for those of a less demanding sensibility, the world to be seen from a comfortable apartment high in the tender, velvety smog of Manhattan, Chicago, Paris, Tokyo, Rio, or Rome -- there's no limit to the human capacity for the homing sentiment.

Has joy any survival value in evolution? - Has joy any survival value in the operations of evolution? I suspect that it does; I suspect that the morose and fearful are doomed to quick extinction. Where there is no joy there can be no courage; and without courage all other virtues are useless.

One man alone can be pretty dumb - One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothing can beat teamwork.

Irksome petty tyranny - No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets.

A patriot must always be ready - A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.

Anarchism is not a romantic fable - Anarchism is not a romantic fable but the hardheaded realization, based on five thousand years of experience, that we cannot entrust the management of our lives to kings, priests, politicians, generals, and county commissioners.

Foundation of anarchism - Anarchism is founded on the observation that since few men are wise enough to rule themselves, even fewer are wise enough to rule others.

Counterpart to the knee-jerk liberal - Counterpart to the knee-jerk liberal is the new knee-pad conservative, always groveling before the rich and powerful.

"God" is a sound people make - “God” is a sound people make when they're too tired to think anymore.

My decomposing carcass helps nourish - If my decomposing carcass helps nourish the roots of a Juniper tree or the wings of a vulture-that is immortality enough for me. And as much as anyone deserves.

The longest journey begins with. . . - The longest journey begins with a single step, not with the turn of an ignition key. That's the best thing about walking, the journey itself. It doesn't much matter whether you get where you're going or not. You'll get there anyway. Every good hike brings you eventually back home. Right where you started.

Whatever we cannot understand - Whatever we cannot easily understand we call God; this saves much wear and tear on the brain tissues.

Orthodoxy: relaxation of the mind - Orthodoxy is a relaxation of the mind accompanied by a stiffening of the heart.

We have never entered an animal's mind - We have never entered into an animal's mind and we can not know what it is like, or even if it exists. The risk of attributing too much is no greater than the risk of attributing too little.

All belong with us on this one small planet - Not only the pretty birds, but also the predators and reptiles, the ugly and unloved, the organic and inorganic - all belong here, with us, on the same small planet.

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