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I Would Prefer To Write About Everything; What Else Is There? But One Must Be Selective.
-Edward Abbey
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I Would Prefer To

Edward Abbey
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I Would Prefer To Write About Everything; What Else Is There? But One Must Be Selective.

Understanding the Quote: "i would prefer to write about everything; what else is there? but..."

This quote by Edward Abbey reflects deeply on the theme of writing. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Writing, Selective, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Edward Abbey interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Edward Abbey

Edward Abbey is celebrated for insightful thoughts on writing and selective. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Writing
Selective
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The Highest Treason, The Meanest Treason, Is To Deny The Holiness Of This Little Blue Planet On Which We Journey Through The Cold Void Of Space.
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Doctrines Like Christianity Or Islam Or Marxism Require Unanimity Of Belief. One Dissenter Casts Doubt On The Creed Of Millions.
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Ah Yes, The Head Is Full Of Books. The Hard Part Is To Force Them Down Through The Bloodstream And Out Through The Fingers.
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The Ready Availability Of Suicide, Like Sex And Alcohol, Is One Of Life's Basic Consolations.
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What Good Is A Bill Of Rights That Does Not Include The Right To Play, To Wander, To Explore, The Right To Stillness And Solitude, To Discovery And Physical Freedom?
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When The Situation Is Desperate, It Is Too Late To Be Serious. Be Playful.
Serious
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J. Edgar Hoover, J. Bracken Lee, J. Parnell Thomas, J. Paul Getty -- You Can Always Tell A Shithead By That Initial Initial.
J Edgar Hoover
Parnell
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May Your Trails Be Dim, Lonesome, Stony, Narrow, Winding And Only Slightly Uphill. May The Wind Bring Rain For The Slickrock Potholes Fourteen Miles On The Other Side Of Yonder Blue Ridge. May God's Dog Serenade Your Campfire, May The Rattlesnake And The Screech Owl Amuse Your Reverie, May The Great Sun Dazzle Your Eyes By Day And The Great Bear Watch Over You By Night.
Dog
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Readers, Not Critics, Are The People Who Determine A Book's Eventual Fate.
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People
Mental Degeneracy May Be Caused By Lead Poisoning. Or By A Poor Dip In The Gene Pool.
Dip
May
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The Love Of A Man For His Wife, His Child, Of The Land Where He Lives And Works, Is For Me The Real Meaning Of Mystical Experience.
Children
Real
Men
Wealth And How To Achieve It: Let Us Define The Wealthy Man As He Who Has Everything He Desires. How To Reach That Happy Condition? Two Ways
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You Cannot Reshape Human Nature Without Mutilating Human Beings.
Human Nature
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Beware Of The Man Who Has No Enemies.
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He Man
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 Thornbush And Cactus. When Traces Of Blood Begin To Mark Your Trail You'll Begin To See Something, Maybe. Probably Not.
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In Social Affairs, I'm An Optimist. I Really Do Believe That Our Military- Industrial Civilization Will Soon Collapse.
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No Tyranny Is So Irksome As Petty Tyranny: The Officious Demands Of Policemen, Government Clerks, And Electromechanical Gadgets.
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A Giant Thirst Is A Great Joy When Quenched In Time.
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Capitalism Sounds Good In Theory But It Just Doesn't Work.
Sound
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Metaphysics Is A Cobweb That The Mind Weaves Around Things.
Mind
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What Is Truth? I Don't Know And I'm Sorry I Brought It Up.
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If You Feel That You're Not Ready To Die, Never Fear; Nature Will Give You Complete And Adequate Assistance When The Time Comes.
Giving
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By The Age Of Eighteen, A Human Has Acquired Enough Joy And Heartache To Provide The Food Of Reflection For A Century.
Reflection
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It Will Be Objected That A Constantly Increasing Population Makes Resistance And Conservation A Hopeless Battle. This Is True. Unless A Way Is Found To Stabilize The Nation's Population, The Parks Can Not Be Saved. Or Anything Else Worth A Damn. Wilderness Preservation, Like A Hundred Other Good Causes, Will Be Forgotten Under The Overwhelming Pressure Of A Struggle For Mere Survival And Sanity In A Completely Urbanized, Completely Industrialized, Ever More Crowded Environment. For My Own Part I Would Rather Take My Chances In A Thermonuclear War Than Live In Such A World.
War
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Jesus Don't Walk On Water No More; His Feet Leak.
Jesus
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Preacher To Me: 'a Dollar For The Lord, Brother?' Me To Preacher: 'that's All Right, I'm Headed His Way. I'll Give It To Him When I See Him.'
Brother
Giving
Dollars
Married Couples Who Quarrel Bitterly Every Day May Really Need Each Other As Deeply As Those Who Appear To Be Desperately In Love.
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I Once Sat On The Rim Of A Mesa Above The Rio Grande For Three Days And Nights, Trying To Have A Vision. I Got Hungry And Saw God In The Form Of A Beef Pie.
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Books Are Like Eggs -- Best When Fresh.
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When A Man's Best Friend Is His Dog, That Dog Has A Problem.
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I Find More And More, As I Grow Older, That I Prefer Women To Men, Children To Adults, Animals To Humans.... And Rocks To Living Things? No, I'm Not That Old Yet.
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We Judge Individual Man And Women As We Do Nations And Races -- By The Character Of Their Achievement And By Their Achievement Of Character.
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The Tragic Sense Of Life: Our Heroic Acceptance Of The Suffering Of Others.
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I Love America Because It Is A Confused, Chaotic Mess - And I Hope We Can Keep It This Way For At Least Another Thousand Years. The Permissive Society Is The Free Society.
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Proust Again: One Can Only Wish That A Man With Such Powers Of Total Recall Had Led A Less Tedious Life, Moved Among Somewhat Livelier Circles.
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Is It Possible To Grow Wiser Without Knowing It? One Hopes So. We All Hope So.
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A Critic Is To An Author As A Fungus To An Oak.
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The Sneakiest Form Of Literary Subtlety, In A Corrupt Society, Is To Speak The Plain Truth. The Critics Will Not Understand You; The Public Will Not Believe You; Your Fellow Writers Will Shake Their Heads. Laughter, Praise, Honors, Money, And The Love Of Beautiful Girls Will Be Your Only Reward.
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Shakespeare Wrote Great Poetry And Preposterous Plays. Who Really Cares, For Example, Which Petty Tyrant Rules Milan? Or Who Succeeds To The Throne Of Denmark? Or Why The Barons Ganged Up On Richard Ii?
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Desire, Said The Buddha, Is The Cause Of Suffering. But Without Desire, What Delight?
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Most Of The Literary Classics Are Worth Reading, If You've Nothing Better To Do.
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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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Appearance Versus Reality? Appearance Is Reality, God Damn It!
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Is The Archbishop's Blessing Any More Meaningful Than The Politician's Handshake? The Come, They Go, With Bigger Things Than Us On Their Minds.
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At Some Point We Must Draw A Line Across The Ground Of Our Home And Our Being, Drive A Spear Into The Land And Say To The Bulldozers, Earthmovers, Government And Corporations, "thus Far And No Further." If We Do Not, We Shall Later Feel, Instead Of Pride, The Regret Of Thoreau, That Good But Overly-bookish Man, Who Wrote, Near The End Of His Life, "if I Repent Of Anything It Is Likely To Be My Good Behaviour.
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I Want My Body To Help Fertilize The Growth Of A Cactus Or Cliff Rose Or Sagebrush Or Tree.
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The Tragedy Of Modern War Is That The Young Men Die Fighting Each Other - Instead Of Their Real Enemies Back Home In The Capitals.
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Arms
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Gnarly
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Salome Had But Seven Veils; The Artist Has A Thousand.
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Despair Leads To Boredom, Electronic Games, Computer Hacking, Poetry And Other Bad Habits.
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Some Of My Ancestors Fought In The American Revolution. A Few More Wore Red Coats, A Few Wore Blue Coats, And The Rest Wore No Coats At All. We Never Did Figure Out Who Won That War.
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Thousand
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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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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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There Are Circumstances In Which Suicide Presents A Viable Option; A Workable Alternative; The Only Sensible Solution.
Suicide
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Lying
Men
Paradise
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Adults
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Risk
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Safe
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Half
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Cry
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A True Libertarian Supports Free Enterprise, Opposes Big Business; Supports Local Self-government, Opposes The Nation-state; Supports The National Rifle Association, Opposes The Pentagon.
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Grown Men Do Not Need Leaders.
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Life Is Unfair. And It's Not Fair That Life Is Unfair.
Life Is
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Indolence And Melancholy: Each Generates The Other. If One Can Speak Of Such Feeble Passions As Generating Anything.
Passion
Speak
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The National Parks Belong To Everyone. To The People. To All Of Us. The Government Keeps Saying So And Maybe, In This One Case At Least, The Government Is Telling The Truth. Hard To Believe, But Possible.
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People
In A Nation Of Sheep, One Brave Man Forms A Majority.
Men
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Brave
The Dog's Life Is A Good Life, For A Dog.
Dog
Good Life
Life Is
I Have Been A Lucky Man. But Someone Has To Be.
Men
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The Axiom Of Conditioned Repetition, Like The Binomial Theorem, Is Nothing But A Piece Of Insolence.
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Heaven Is Home. Utopia Is Here. Nirvana Is Now.
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Heaven
Utopia
Without Courage, All Other Virtues Are Useless.
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Morose
Life Imitates Art -- But Badly.
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Opera: I Like It, Except For All Those Howling Sopranos And Caterwauling Tenors. (why Can't Tenors Sing Like Men?)
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Of Course I Litter The Public Highway. Every Chance I Get. After All, It's Not The Beer Cans That Are Ugly; It's The Highway That Is Ugly.
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Ugly
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Great Art Is Never Perfect; Perfect Art Is Never Great.
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I Was Once Invited To Take Part In A Heroic, Possibly Fatal Enterprise, But I Declined, Mainly On Account Of Sloth.
Sloth
Heroic
Enterprise
The Gurus Come From The Sickliest Nation On Earth To Tell Us How To Live. And We Pay Them For It.
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Generally Speaking, It's A Matter Of Only Mild Intellectual Interest To Me Whether The Earth Goes Around The Sun Or The Sun Goes Around The Earth. In Fact, I Don't Care A Rat's Ass Either Way.
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There Has Never Been A Day In My Life When I Was Not In Love.
Home Is Where, When You Have To Go There, You Probably Shouldn't.
Home
What Did Jesus Say To The Headwaiter At The Last Supper? 'separate Checks, Please.'
Jesus
Lasts
Checks
Within Minutes My 115-mile Walk Through The Desert Hills Becomes A Thing Apart, A Disjunct Reality On The Far Side Of A Bottomless Abyss, Immediately Beyond Physical Recollection.but It's All Still There In My Heart And Soul. The Walk, The Hills, The Sky, The Solitary Pain And Pleasure-they Will Grow Larger, Sweeter, Lovelier In The Days To Come, Like A Treasure Found And Then, Voluntarily, Surrendered. Returned To The Mountains With My Blessing. It Leaves A Golden Glowing On The Mind.
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Heart
Blessing
All Forms Of Government Are Pernicious, Including Good Government.
Government
Liberty
Form
A Genius Is Always On Duty; Even His Dreams Are Tax Deductible.
Dream
Genius
Duty
Going To Bed With Gertrude Stein, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Susan Sontag, Or Margaret Thatcher: There Are Some Things One Prefers Neither To Do Nor To Have Done.
Bed
Gertrude
Done
Congress Is Always Willing To Appropriate Money For More And Bigger Paved Roads, Anywhere -- Particularly If They Form Loops.
Nature
Conservation
Form
Mexico: Where Life Is Cheap, Death Is Rich, And The Buzzards Are Never Unhappy.
Unhappy
Buzzards
Mexico
One Can Imagine A Sane, Healthy, Cheerful Human Society Based On No More Than The Principles Of Common Sense, As Validated Each Day By Work, Play, And Living Experience. But This Remains The Most Utopian And Fantastic Of Ideals.
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Healthy
May Your Rivers Flow Without End... 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 Where Bars Of Sunlight Blaze On Profiled Cliffs... Where Something Strange And More Beautiful And More Full Of Wonder Than Your Deepest Dreams Waits For You-beyond That Next Turning Of The Canyon Walls.
Beautiful
Dream
Wall
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Writing
People
Challenges
Poetry -- Even Bad Poetry -- May Be Our Final Hope.
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May
I Choose To Listen To The River For A While, Thinking River Thoughts, Before Joining The Night And The Stars.
Stars
Memorable
Night
How To Avoid Pleurisy: Never Make Love To A Girl Named Candy On The Tailgate Of A Half-ton Ford Pickup During A Chill Rain In April Out On Grandview Point In San Juan County, Utah.
Girl
Rain
Utah
Jack Kerouac, Like A Sick Refrigerator, Worked Too Hard At Keeping Cool And Died On His Mama's Lap From Alcohol And Infantilism.
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Alcohol
Mama
A House Built On Greed Cannot Long Endure.
Long
House
Greed
When The Writer Has Done His Best, He Then Should Proceed To Do His Second Best.
Done
Second Best
Should
Poor Dimitri Shostakovich: In The Soviet Union, He Was Condemned As Being Too Radical; In The West, For Being Too Conservative. He Could Please No One But The Musical Public. He Revenged Himself On Both By Writing A Short Piece Called 'march Of The Soviet Police.'
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Police
Musical
If A Man’s Imagination Were Not So Weak, So Easily Tired, If His Capacity For Wonder Not So Limited, He Would Abandon Forever Such Fantasies Of The Supernal. He Would Learn To Perceive In Water, Leaves And Silence More Than Sufficient Of The Absolute And Marvelous, More Than Enough To Console Him For The Loss Of The Ancient Dream.
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Tired
Loss
Instant Communication Is Not Communication At All But Merely A Frantic, Trivial, Nerve-wracking Bombardment Of Cliches, Threats, Fads, Fashions, Gibberish And Advertising.
Fashion
Communication
Nerves
Beware Of Your Wishes: They Will Probably Come True.
Wish
Baseball Is A Slow, Sluggish Game, With Frequent And Trivial Interruptions, Offering The Spectator Many Opportunities To Reflect At Leisure Upon The Situation On The Field: This Is What A Fan Loves Most About The Game
Baseball
Opportunity
Games
Trout Fishing. One Must Be A Stickler For Proper Form. Use Nothing But #4 Blasting Caps, Or A Hand Grenade, If Handy, Or At A Pool Well-lined With Stone, One Blast From A .44 Magnum Will Bring A Few Stunned Brookies Quietly To The Surface.
Lakes
Hands
Sea
Why Do I Write? I Write To Entertain My Friends And To Exasperate Our Enemies. To Unfold The Folded Lie, To Record To Truth Of Our Time, And, Of Course, To Promote Esthetic Bliss.
Lying
Writing
Enemy
A Cowboy Is A Farm Boy In Leather Britches And A Comical Hat.
Cowboy
Boys
Hats
In The World Of Words, One Of My Best-loved Tribes Is The Diatribe.
World
Tribes
What Ideal, Immutable Platonic Cloud Could Equal The Beauty And Perfection Of Any Ordinary Everyday Cloud Floating Over, Say, Tuba City, Arizona, On A Hot Day In June?
Stars
Clouds
June
We Live In A Society In Which It Is Normal To Be Sick; And Sick To Be Abnormal.
Sick
Abnormal
Normal
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.
Speaks Out
Shopping
Rivers
Jane Austen: Getting Into Her Books Is Like Getting In Bed With A Cadaver. Something Vital Is Lacking; Namely, Life.
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Bed
Cadavers
The Result Of This Bestial Lust Is An Indiscriminate And Promiscuous Splaying Of All Of My Energies- Wanting All, I Accomplish Nothing; Desiring Everything, I Satisfy Nothing And Am Satisfied By Nothing.
Accomplish Nothing
Lust
Energy
Defiance Is Beautiful. The Defiance Of Power, Especially Great Or Overwhelming Power, Exalts And Glorifies The Rebel.
Beautiful
Rebel
Defiance
You Can't Study The Darkness By Flooding It With Light.
Education
Light
Illumination
When The Philosopher's Argument Becomes Tedious, Complicated, And Opaque, It Is Usually A Sign That He Is Attempting To Prove As True To The Intellect What Is Plainly False To Common Sense.
Fear
Common Sense
Atheism
We Can Have Wilderness Without Freedom; We Can Have Wilderness Without Human Life At All, But We Cannot Have Freedom Without Wilderness, We Cannot Have Freedom Without Leagues Of Open Space Beyond The Cities, Where Boys And Girls, Men And Women, Can Live At Least Part Of Their Lives Under No Control But Their Own Desires And Abilities, Free From Any And All Direct Administration By Their Fellow Men.
Girl
Boys
Men
What Draws Us Into The Desert Is The Search For Something Intimate In The Remote.
Desert
Intimate
Draws
I've Wrecked And Ravaged Half My Life In The Pursuit Of Women, And I Suffer The Pangs Of About Seventeen Regrets -- The Seventeen Who Got Away.
Regret
Suffering
Half
We Live In The Kind Of World Where Courage Is The Most Essential Of Virtues; Without Courage, The Other Virtues Are Useless.
Essentials
Useless
World
I Wouldn't Trade A Good Horse For The Best Rolls-royce Ever Made -- Unless I Could Trade The Rolls For Two Good Horses.
Horse
Two
Rolls Royce
Simplicity Is Always A Virtue.
Life
Simplicity
Virtue
The Missionaries Go Forth To Christianize The Savages - As If The Savages Weren't Dangerous Enough Already.
Enough Already
Missionary
Savages
Life Without Music Would Be An Intolerable Insult.
Would Be
Insult
Life Without Music
‎"if My Decomposing Carcass Helps Nourish The Roots Of A Juniper Tree Or The Wings Of A Vulture--that Is Immortality Enough For Me. And As Much As Anyone Deserves." E.abbey
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Wings
Roots
There Is No Force More Potent In The Modern World Than Stupidity Fueled By Greed.
Stupidity
Greed
World
War: First Day In The U.s. Army, The Government Placed A Bible In My Left Hand, A Bayonet In The Other.
War
Army
Government
Every Writer Has His Favorite Coterie Of Enemies: Mine Is The East Coast Literati -- Those Prep School Playmates And Their Ivy League Colleagues.
School
Ivy
League
I Don't See How Poetry Can Ever Be Easy... Real Poetry, The Thick, Dense, Intense, Complicated Stuff That Lives And Endures, Requires Blood Sweat; Blood And Sweat Are Essential Elements In Poetry As Well As Behind It.
Real
Blood
Sweat
Wilderness Begins In The Human Mind.
Mind
Wilderness
Humans
Growth For The Sake Of Growth Is The Ideology Of The Cancer Cell.
Inspirational
Nature
Cancer
That Which Today Calls Itself Science Gives Us More And More Information, And Indigestible Glut Of Information, And Less And Less Understanding.
Giving
Decision
Understanding
Humankind Will Not Be Free Until The Last Kremlin Commissar Is Strangled With The Entrails Of The Last Pentagon Chief Of Staff.
Lasts
Staff
Pentagon
Suicide: Don't Knock It If You Ain't Tried It.
Suicide
Ifs
The Developers And Entrepreneurs Must Somehow Be Taught A New Vocabulary Of Values.
Vocabulary
Entrepreneur
Taught
Nearly All Of Latin America, From Chile To Mexico, Is One Long Rack Of Torture. Financed, Equipped, And Refined By The U.s. Government.
Latin
Government
America
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.
Kings
Years
Realization
Literary Critics, Like A Herd Of Cows Or A School Of Fish, Always Face In The Same Direction, Obeying That Love For Unity That Every Critic Requires.
School
Unity
Cows
The Idea Of Wilderness Needs No Defense. It Only Needs More Defenders. Remaining Silent About The Destruction Of Nature Is An Endorsement Of That Destruction.
Ideas
Needs
Defense
It Is An Author's Most Solemn Obligation To Honor Truth. If The Free And Independent Writer Does Not Speak Truth To Power, Who Will?
Independent
Honor
Doe
Let Us Praise The Noble Turkey Vulture: No One Envies Him; He Harms Nobody; And He Contemplates Our Little World From A Most Serene And Noble Height.
Turkeys
Envy
Littles
Desert Springtime, With Flowers Popping Up All Over The Place, Trees Leafing Out, Streams Gushing Down From The Mountains. Great Time Of Year For Hiking, Camping, Exploring, Sleeping Under The New Moon And The Old Stars. At Dawn And At Evening We Hear The Coyotes Howling With Excitement—mating Season.
Stars
Flower
Sleep
The Rich Can Buy Everything But Health, Virtue, Friendship, Wit, Good Looks, Love, Pride, Intelligence, Grace, And, If You Need It, Happiness.
Pride
Grace
Needs
Critics Are Like Ticks On A Dog Or Tits On A Motor: Ornamental But Dysfunctional.
Dog
Tick
Critics
A City Man Is A Home Anywhere, For All Big Cities Are Much Alike. But A Country Man Has A Place Where He Belongs, Where He Always Returns, And Where, When The Time Comes, He Is Willing To Die.
Country
Home
Men
The Rebel Is Doomed To A Violent Death. The Rest Of Us Can Look Forward To Sedated Expiration In A Coma Inside An Oxygen Tent, With Tubes Inserted In Every Bodily Orifice.
Oxygen
Rebel
Looks
Whenever I See A Photograph Of Some Sportsman Grinning Over His Kill, I Am Always Impressed By The Striking Moral And Esthetic Superiority Of The Dead Animal To The Live One.
Animal
Hunting
Moral
I Must Confess That I Know Nothing Whatsoever About True Underlying Reality, Never Having Met Any.
Reality
Mets
Knows
In Order To Write A Book, It Is Necessary To Sit Down (or Stand Up) And Write. Therein Lies The Difficulty.
Lying
Book
Writing
Every Man Has Two Vocations: His Own And Philosophy.
Philosophy
Men
Two
The Function Of Football, Soccer, Basketball And Other Passion-sports In Modern Industrial Society Is The Transference Of Boredom, Frustration, Anger And Rage Into Socially Acceptable Forms Of Combat. A Temporary Substitute For War; For Nationalism; Identification With Something Bigger Than The Self.
Basketball
Soccer
Sports
I Would Prefer To Write About Everything; What Else Is There? But One Must Be Selective.
Writing
Selective
England Has Never Enjoyed A Genuine Social Revolution. Maybe That's What's Wrong With That Dear, Tepid, Vapid, Insipid, Stuffy, Little Country.
Country
Littles
Revolution
A Mother's Sorrow Is More True, Honorable, And Beautiful Than The Detachment Of The Sage.
Beautiful
Mother
Sorrow
Girls, Like Flowers, Bloom But Once. But Once Is Enough.
Girl
Flower
Enough
The Basic Science Is Not Physics Or Mathematics But Biology -- The Study Of Life. We Must Learn To Think Both Logically And Bio-logically.
Thinking
Study
Physics
The Earth Is Real. Only A Fool, Milking His Cow, Denies The Cow's Reality.
Real
Earth
Cows
I Hold No Preference Among Flowers, So Long As They Are Wild, Free, Spontaneous.
Nature
Flower
Long
There Is No Trajectory So Pathetic As That Of An Artist In Decline.
Artist
Decline
Trajectory
There Is Science, Logic, Reason; There Is Thought Verified By Experience. And Then There Is California.
Travel
Fun
Crazy
Girls: I Never Wanted Them All. Just All The Ones I Wanted.
Girl
Wanted
Nobody Has So Many Friends That He Can Afford To Lose One.
Many Friends
Loses
Science Transcends Mere Politics. As Recent History Demonstrates, Scientists Are As Willing To Work For A Tojo, A Hitler, Or A Stalin As For The Free Nations Of The West.
West
Scientist
Willing
I Would Never Betray A Friend To Serve A Cause. Never Reject A Friend To Help An Institution. Great Nations May Fall In Ruin Before I Would Sell A Friend To Save Them.
Friendship
Betrayal
Fall
Everyone Should Learn A Manual Trade: It's Never Too Late To Become An Honest Person.
Too Late
Honest
Should
John Updike: Our Greatest Suburban Chic-boutique Man Of Letters. A Smug And Fatal Complacency Has Stunted His Growth Beyond Hope Of Surgical Repair. Not Enough Passion In His Collected Works To Generate Steam In A Beer Can. Nevertheless, He Is Considered By Some Critics To Be America's Finest *living* Author: Hold A Chilled Mirror To His Lips And You Will See, Presently, A Fine And Dewy Moisture Condensing -- Like A Faery Breath! -- Upon The Glass.
Passion
Beer
Men
I Am My Brother's Keeper, Says The Chickenshit Liberal. Perhaps He Does Not Realize That He Now Has More Than 2 1/2 Billion Brothers.
Brother
Doe
Realizing
I Intend To Be Good For The Rest Of My Natural Life -- If I Live That Long.
Long
Natural
Be Good
I Am Delighted, One More Time, By The Daring Of My Species And The Audacity Of Our Flying Machines. There Is Poetry And Music In Our Technology, A Beauty As Touching As That Of Eagle, Moss Campion, Raven Or Yonder Limestone Boulder Shining Under The Arctic Sun.
Technology
Eagles
Ravens
My Aunt Ida At Age Eighty-three: 'yeah,' She Said, 'i'll Be Dead Pretty Soon. And Frankly, I Don't Give A Damn.'
Aunt
Giving
Age
The Most Striking Thing About The Rich Is The Gracious Democracy Of Their Manners -- And The Crude Vulgarity Of Their Way Of Life.
Democracy
Way
Rich
Passion, Sexual Passion, May Lead To Marriage, But Cannot Sustain Marriage. The Purpose Of Marriage Is The Raising Of Children, For Which Patience, Not Passion, Is The Necessary Foundation.
Children
Passion
Foundation
There Are No Vacant Lots In Nature.
Nature
Vacant
Edmund Wilson Was Our Greatest American Literary Critic Because He Was More Than A Literary Critic: He Was A Fearless, Even Radical Judge Of The Society He Lived In. (see, For Example, _a Piece Of My Mind_; _the Cold War And The Income Tax_; The Introduction To _patriotic Gore_.) Our Conventional Critics Cannot Forgive Him For Those Scandalous Lapses In Good Taste.
War
Patriotic
Judging
Music Begins Where Words Leave Off. Music Expresses The Inexpressible. If There Is A Kingdom Of Heaven, It Lies In Music.
Lying
Heaven
Kingdoms
Why I Oppose The Nuclear-arms Race: I Prefer The Human Race.
Race
Nuclear
Arms
Balance, That's The Secret. Moderate Extremism. The Best Of Both Worlds.
Secret
Balance
World
All Governments Require Enemy Governments.
Government
Enemy
The Night I Filled An Inside Straight: Even A Blind Hog's Gonna Root Up An Acorn Once In A While.
Night
Roots
Acorns
If You Feel That You Must Suffer, Then Plan Your Suffering Carefully -- As You Choose Your Dreams, As You Conceive Your Ancestors.
Dream
Suffering
Ancestor
Saving The World Is Only A Hobby. Most Of The Time I Do Nothing.
Favorite Hobby
Hobbies
World
James Joyce Buried Himself In His Great Work. _finnegan's Wake_ Is His Monument And His Tombstone. A Dead End.
Tombstone
Great Work
Dead Ends
Mozart, Striving For Perfection, Wrote The Same Symphony Forty-one Times. In His Case, It Worked. He Wrote A Perfect Symphony.
Symphony
Perfect
Strive
In Writing, Fidelity To Fact Leads Eventually To The Poetry Of Truth.
Writing
Facts
Fidelity
We Are Preoccupied With Time. If We Could Learn To Love Space As Deeply As We Are Now Obsessed With Time, We Might Discover A New Meaning In The Phrase To Live Like Men.
Men
Space
Phrases
A Venturesome Minority Will Always Be Eager To Set Off On Their Own, And No Obstacles Should Be Placed In Their Path; Let Them Take Risks, For Godsake, Let Them Get Lost, Sunburnt, Stranded, Drowned, Eaten By Bears, Buried Alive Under Avalanches - That Is The Right And Privilege Of Any Free American.
Risk
Minorities
Alive
An Empty Man Is Full Of Himself.
Men
Empty
Our Contemporary Tories Prefer The Term 'ordered Liberty' To 'freedom'. The Word 'freedom' Scares Them; It Has Too Much Of A Paleolithic Ring To It.
Liberty
Scare
Too Much
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