40+ Best Edward Abbey Quotes From The Author Of Desert Solitaire

Rajnandini Roychoudhury
Dec 12, 2023 By Rajnandini Roychoudhury
Originally Published on Feb 24, 2021
Edited by Luca Demetriou
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Edward Abbey was a popular writer from the United States.

He was famous for his unique environmentalist philosophy. Most of Edward Abbey's work is set in the South Western United States.

Edward Abbey, from Pennsylvania, was born in January 1927 and passed away in March 1989. Edward Abbey, who was married to Clarke Cartwright, was also known for criticizing public land policies in the United States.

He is the author of some popular books like 'Desert Solitaire' and 'The Monkey Wrench Gang'. Listed below we have the most popular Edward Abbey quotes are the Edward Abbey 'Desert Solitaire' quotes.

If you like what you are reading, do check out our articles on [nature quotes] and climate change quotes.

Best Quotes From Edward Abbey

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Here is a list of the best Edward Abbey quotes.

1. "I have a friend who's always in a hurry; he never gets anywhere. Walking makes the world much bigger and thus more interesting."

- Edward Abbey.

2. "Do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast, a part time crusader, a half hearted fanatic."

- Edward Abbey.

3. "You can't study the darkness by flooding it with light."

- Edward Abbey.

4. "A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against the government."

- Edward Abbey.

5. "Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul."

- Edward Abbey.

6. "Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell."

- Edward Abbey.

7. "The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders."

- Edward Abbey.

8. "Where there is no joy, there can be no courage, and without courage all other virtues are useless."

- Edward Abbey.

Inspirational Edward Abbey Quotes

Check out these motivational Edward Abbey quotes.

9. "Power is always dangerous. Power attracts the worst and corrupts the best."

- Edward Abbey.

10. "...where tigers belch and monkeys howl, through miasmal and mysterious swamps and down into a desert of red rock, blue mesas, domes and pinnacles and grottos of endless stone, and down again into a deep vast ancient unknown chasm."

- Edward Abbey.

11.  "May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view, May your mountains rise into and above the clouds."

- Edward Abbey.

12. "Grown men do not need leaders."

- Edward Abbey.

13. "Life is already too short to waste on speed."

- Edward Abbey.

Famous Edward Abbey Quotes

Here are some Edward Abbey quotes that are well-known.

14. "The fear of death follows from the fear of life."

- Edward Abbey.

15. "A civilization which destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself."

- Edward Abbey.

16. "The love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach."

- Edward Abbey.

17. "The best thing about graduating from university was that I finally had time to sit on a log and read a good book."

- Edward Abbey.

18. "May your rivers flow without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells past temples and castles and poets towers into a dark primeval forest…

- Edward Abbey.

19. "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."

- Edward Abbey.

20. "I've never yet read a review of one of my own books that I couldn't have written much better myself."

- Edward Abbey.

21. "I am not an atheist but an earthiest. Be true to the earth."

- Edward Abbey.

22. "Freedom begins between the ears."

- Edward Abbey.

23. "There is no lack of water here unless you try to establish a city where no city should be."

- Edward Abbey.

24. "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."

- Edward Abbey.

25. "A world without open country would be universal jail."

- Edward Abbey.

26.  "I believe in sun. In rock. In the dogma of the sun and the doctrine of the rock. I believe in blood, fire, woman, rivers, eagles, storm, drums, flutes, banjos, and broom tailed horses."

- Edward Abbey.

27. "In the first place you can't see anything from a car, you've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk, better yet crawl, on hands and knees, over the sandstone and through the thorn bush and cactus."

- Edward Abbey.

28. "I stand for what I stand on."

- Edward Abbey.

29. "I despise my own nation the most. Because I know it best. Because I still love it, suffering from Hope. For me, that's patriotism."

- Edward Abbey.

Edward Abbey quotes from 'Desert Solitaire'.

Listed below are some Edward Abbey Desert quotes.

30. "A man on foot, on horseback or on a bicycle will see more, feel more, enjoy more in one mile than the motorized tourist can in a hundred miles."

- Edward Abbey, 'Desert Solitaire'.

31. "Industrial tourism is a threat to the national parks. But the chief victims of the system are the motorized tourists."

- Edward Abbey, 'Desert Solitaire'.

32. "Men come and go, cities rise and fall, whole civilizations appear and disappear - the Earth remains, slightly modified."

- Edward Abbey, 'Desert Solitaire'.

33. "Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread.”

- Edward Abbey, 'Desert Solitaire'.

34. "An economic system which can only expand or expire must be false to all that is human."

- Edward Abbey, 'Desert Solitaire'.

35. "We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it."

- Edward Abbey, 'Desert Solitaire'.

36. "We need the possibility of escape as surely as we need hope."

- Edward Abbey, 'Desert Solitaire'.

Popular Edward Abbey Quotes

Here are some extremely popular quotes of Edward Abbey.

37. "There are some places so beautiful they can make a grown man break down and weep."

- Edward Abbey, 'The Monkey Wrench Gang'.

38. "Has joy any survival value in the operations of evolution?"

- Edward Abbey.

39. "Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion."

- Edward Abbey.

40. "There are some good things to be said about walking. Not many but some. Walking takes longer for example than any other known form of locomotion except crawling. Thus it stretches time and prolongs life."

- Edward Abbey.

41. "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."

- Edward Abbey.

42. "I suspect that the morose and fearful are doomed to quick extinction."

- Edward Abbey.

43. "When the situation is hopeless, there is nothing to worry about."

- Edward Abbey, 'The Monkey Wrench Gang'.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Edward Abbey quotes then why not take a look at Cheryl Strayed quotes or [Mountain quotes].

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Written by Rajnandini Roychoudhury

Bachelor of Arts specializing in English, Master of Arts specializing in English

Rajnandini Roychoudhury picture

Rajnandini RoychoudhuryBachelor of Arts specializing in English, Master of Arts specializing in English

With a Master of Arts in English, Rajnandini has pursued her passion for the arts and has become an experienced content writer. She has worked with companies such as Writer's Zone and has had her writing skills recognized by publications such as The Telegraph. Rajnandini is also trilingual and enjoys various hobbies such as music, movies, travel, philanthropy, writing her blog, and reading classic British literature. 

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