Postcards from Ed Quotes

“The ugliest thing in America is greed, the lust for power and domination, the lunatic ideology of perpetual Growth - with a capital G. 'Progress' in our nation has for too long been confused with 'Growth'; I see the two as different, almost incompatible, since progress means, or should mean, change for the better - toward social justice, a livable and open world, equal opportunity and affirmative action for all forms of life. And I mean all forms, not merely the human. The grizzly, the wolf, the rattlesnake, the condor, the coyote, the crocodile, whatever, each and every species has as much right to be here as we do.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“The one thing ... that is truly ugly is the climate of hate and intimidation, created by a noisy few, which makes the decent majority reluctant to air in public their views on anything controversial. ... Where all pretend to be thinking alike, it's likely that no one is thinking at all.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“A crowded society is a restrictive society; an overcrowded society becomes an authoritarian, repressive and murderous society.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“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, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“When guns are outlawed, only the Government will have guns. The Government - and a few outlaws. If that happens, you can count me among the outlaws.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“I took the other road, all right, but only because it was the easy road for me, the way I wanted to go. If I've encountered some unnecessary resistance that's because most of the traffic is going the other way.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“Why can't we simply borrow what is useful to us from Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, especially Zen, as we borrow from Christianity, science, American Indian traditions and world literature in general, including philosophy, and let the rest go hang? Borrow what we need but rely principally upon our own senses, common sense and daily living experience.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“A house built on greed cannot long endure.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“Anyone not paranoid in this world must be crazy. . . . Speaking of paranoia, it's true that I do not know exactly who my enemies are. But that of course is exactly why I'm paranoid.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“If it's knowledge and wisdom you want, then seek out the company of those who do real work for an honest purpose.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“I am hopeful, though not full of hope, and the only reason I don't believe in happy endings is because I don't believe in endings.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“Devoted though we must be to the conservation cause, I do not believe that any of us should give it all of our time or effort or heart. Give what you can, but do not burn yourselves out -- or break your hearts. Let us save at least half of our lives for the enjoyment of this wonderful world which still exists. Leave your dens, abandon your cars and walk out into the great mountains, the deserts, the forests, the seashores. Those treasures still belong to all of us. Enjoy them to the full, stretch your legs, expand your lungs, enliven your hearts -- and we will outlive the greedy swine who want to destroy it all in the name of what they call GROWTH.
God bless America -- let's save some of it.
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet!”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“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.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“In the land of bleating sheep and braying jackasses, one brave and honest man is bound to create a scandal.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“I now find the most marvelous things in the everyday, the ordinary, the common, the simple and tangible.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“Saving the world is only a hobby. Most of the time I do nothing.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“A world without huge regions of total wilderness would be a cage; a world without lions and tigers and vultures and snakes and elk and bison would be - will be - a human zoo. A high-tech slum.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“But of the seven deadly sins, wrath is the healthiest - next only to lust.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“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, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“Walking is the only form of transportation in which a man proceeds erect - like a man - on his own legs, under his own power. There is immense satisfaction in that.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“I think it is far more important to save one square mile of wilderness, anywhere, by any means, than to produce another book on the subject.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“To the Technocrats: Have mercy on us. Relax a bit, take time out for simple pleasures. For example, the luxuries of electricity, indoor plumbing, central heating, instant electronic communication and such, have taught me to relearn and enjoy the basic human satisfactions of dipping water from a cold clear mountain stream; of building a wood fire in a cast-iron stove; of using long winter nights for making music, making things, making love; of writing long letters, in longhand with a fountain pen, to the few people on this earth I truly care about.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“Our institutions are too big; they represent not the best but the worst characteristics of human beings. By submitting to huge hierarchies of power, we gain freedom from personal responsibility for what we do and are forced to do - the seduction of it - but we lose the dignity of being real men and women. Power corrupts; attracts the worst and corrupts the best. ... Refuse to participate in evil; insist on taking part in what is healthy, generous, and responsible. Stand up, speak out, and when necessary fight back. Get down off the fence and lend a hand, grab a-hold, be a citizen - not a subject.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“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, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“And the so-called 'political process' is a fraud: Our elected officials, like our bureaucratic functionaries, like even our judges, are largely the indentured servants of the commercial interests.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“Instant communication is not communication at all but merely a frantic, trivial, nerve-wracking bombardment of cliches, threats, fads, fashions, gibberish and advertising.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“Anarchism? You bet your sweet betsy. The only cure for the ills of democracy is more democracy. Much more.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“I doubt that my sense of personal freedom is any stronger than anybody else's. I'm happy to respect authority when it's genuine authority, based on moral or intellectual or even technical superiority. I'm eager to follow a hero if we can find one. But I tend to resist or evade any kind of authority based merely on the power to coerce. Government, for example. The Army tried to train us to salute the uniform, not the man. Failed. I will salute the man, maybe, if I think he's worthy of it, but I don't salute uniforms anymore.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“Philosophy without action is the ruin of the soul. One brave deed is worth a hundred books, a thousand theories, a million words. Now as always we need heroes. And heroines! Down with the passive and the limp.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“One of the pleasant things about small town life is that everyone, whether rich or poor, liked or disliked, has some kind of a role and place in the community. I never felt that living in a city -- as I once did for a couple of years.”
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast