Edward Abbey, Postcards From Ed: Dispatches And Salvos From An American Iconoclast Quotes

A house built on greed cannot long endure.

If it's knowledge and wisdom you want, then seek out the company of those who do real work for an honest purpose.

But of the seven deadly sins, wrath is the healthiest - next only to lust.

And if the computer gives you any back talk, pour some well-sugared office coffee into its evil little silicon brain.

I would not sacrifice a single living mesquite tree for any book ever written. One square mile of living desert is worth a hundred 'great books' - and one brave deed is worth a thousand.

Not all questions can be answered.

Instant communication is not communication at all but merely a frantic, trivial, nerve-wracking bombardment of cliches, threats, fads, fashions, gibberish and advertising.

Ah yes, the head is full of books. The hard part is to force them down through the bloodstream and out through the fingers.

Readers, not critics, are the people who determine a book's eventual fate.

In the land of bleating sheep and braying jackasses, one brave and honest man is bound to create a scandal.

Anarchism? You bet your sweet betsy. The only cure for the ills of democracy is more democracy. Much more.

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.

But it is a writer's duty to write and speak and record the truth, always the truth, no matter whom may be offended.

The more we learn of outer space and inner space, of quasars and quarks, of Big Bangs and Little Blips, the more remote, abstract and intellectually inconsequential it all becomes.

[R]eality and real people are too subtle and complicated for anybody's typewriter, even Tolstoy's, even yours, even mine.

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.

The gross evil of our time defies all labels.

Hard times are a-coming, and people without useful, practical skills are going to suffer. Or suffer most.

How become a writer? Naturally.

What is the essence of the art of writing? Part One: Have something to say. Part Two: Say it well.

As for writing, that's a cruel hard business. Unless you're very lucky it'll break your heart.