From Wikipedia:
Edward Paul Abbey (January 29, 1927 – March 14, 1989) was an American author and essayist noted for his advocacy of environmental issues and criticism of public land policies. His best-known works include the novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, which has been cited as an inspiration by radical environmental groups, and the non-fiction work Desert Solitaire. Writer Larry McMurtry referred to Abbey as the “Thoreau of the American West”.

I was recently introduced to Edward Abbey by a friend and began some research. He has some resonating quotes that I wanted to share.

He has some pretty radical views that I don’t agree with but he seems like an honest writer that finds a similar importance to the natural world. Desert Solitaire has been added to my reading list.

“Love implies anger. The man who is angered by nothing cares about nothing.”

“Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit”

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

“Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion.”

“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.”

“In the modern techno-industrial culture, it is possible to proceed from infancy into senility without ever knowing manhood”

“God still sits on the throne, the devil is a liar. You may be going
through a tough time right now but God is getting ready to bless you
in a way that only He can. Keep the faith. My instructions were to
pick four people that I wanted God to bless, and I picked you. Please
pass this to at least four people you care about”

“One final paragraph of advice: Do not burn yourself out. Be as I am-a reluctant enthusiast… a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it is still there. So get out there and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains. Run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to your body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those deskbound people with their hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: you will outlive the bastards.”

“We are kindred all of us, … killer and victim, predator and prey, me and the sly coyote, the soaring buzzard, the elegant gopher snake, the trembling cottontail, the foul worms that feed on our entrails, all of them, all of us.”

“This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and animals. Stand up for the stupid and crazy. Take your hat off to no man.”

“It seems clear at last that our love for the natural world—Nature—is the only means by which we can requite God’s obvious love for it.”

“A journey into the wilderness is the freest, cheapest, most nonprivileged of pleasures. Anyone with two legs and the price of a pair of army surplus combat boots may enter.”