"Death is every man's final critic. To die well you must live bravely."
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Quote collection
Edward Abbey quotes (page 31 of 33)
653 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"There has never yet been a human society worthy of the name of civilization. Civilization remains a remote ideal."
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"But it is a writer's duty to write and speak and record the truth, always the truth, no matter whom may be offended."
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"I've never yet read a review of one of my own books that I couldn't have written much better myself."
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"There are two kinds of people I cannot abide: bigots and any well-organized ethnic group."
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"There comes a time in the life of us all when we must lay aside our books or put down our tools and leave our place of work and walk forth on the road to meet the enemy face-to-face. Once and for all and at last"
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"The majority of American writers today have chosen passive non-resistance to things as they are, producing sloughs of poetry about their personal angst and anomie, cascades of short stories and rivers of novels obsessed with the nuances of domestic relationships - suburban hanky-panky - chic boutique shopping mall literary soap opera. When they do speak out on matters of controversy they attack not the evils of our time but fellow writers who may insist on complaining."
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"The absurd vanity of metaphysicians who like to imagine that they create the world by thinking about it."
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"Orthodoxy is a relaxation of the mind accompanied by a stiffening of the heart."
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"I always write with my .357 magnum handy. Why? Well, you never know when God may try to interfere."
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"Suicide: Don't knock it if you ain't tried it."
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"My computer tells me that in twenty-five years there will be no more computers."
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"Capitalism sounds good in theory but it just doesn't work."
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"Literature, like anything else, can become a wearisome business if you make a lifetime specialty of it. A healthy, wholesome man would no more spend his entire life reading great books than he would packing cookies for Nabisco."
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"A good book is a kind of paper club, serving to rouse the slumbrous and to silence the obtuse."
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"Yes, there are plenty of heroes and heroines everywhere you look. They are not famous people. They are generally obscure and modest people doing useful work, keeping their families together and taking an active part in the health of their communities, opposing what is evil (in one way or another) and defending what is good. Heroes do not want power over others."
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"Everyone should learn a manual trade: It's never too late to become an honest person."
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"Among politicians and businessmen, *Pragmatism* is the current term for 'To hell with our children.'"
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"When the situation is hopeless, there's nothing to worry about."
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"Though I've lived in the rural West most of my life, I never once fell in love with a horse. Not once. Neither end."
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