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There Is Science, Logic, Reason; There Is Thought Verified By Experience. And Then There Is California.
-Edward Abbey
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There Is Science, Logic,

Edward Abbey
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There Is Science, Logic, Reason; There Is Thought Verified By Experience. And Then There Is California.

Understanding the Quote: "there is science, logic, reason; there is thought verified by experience. and..."

This quote by Edward Abbey reflects deeply on the theme of travel. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Travel, Fun, Crazy, 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 travel and fun. 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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Topic
Travel
Fun
Crazy
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Thousand
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Death Penalty
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Sex
Availability
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Thinking
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Pie
Tradition
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Pay
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Sopranos
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Air
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Mother
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Self
Political
Revolution
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Secret
Balance
World
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Thousand
One Word
Right Words
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Envy
Littles
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Clouds
June
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Humans
A Crude Meal, No Doubt, But The Best Of All Sauces Is Hunger.
Doubt
Meals
Sauce
Among Politicians And Businessmen, *pragmatism* Is The Current Term For 'to Hell With Our Children.'
Children
Future
Hell
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Beef
Cabins
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Journey
Blue
Space
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Book
Oblivion
New Books
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Wilderness
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
Chastity Is More A State Of Mind Than Of Anatomy.
Mind
States
Chastity
Books Are Like Eggs -- Best When Fresh.
Book
Eggs
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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Blood
Hands
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Book
Reviews
Reviewers
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Worst
Bores
Sparkling
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White
Tables
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Wisdom
Men
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Nature
Iron
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Boys
Men
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Giving
Decision
Understanding
Nobody Has So Many Friends That He Can Afford To Lose One.
Many Friends
Loses
Cowboys Make Better Lovers: Ask Any Cow.
Cowboy
Cows
Lovers
The Great Question Of Life Is Not The Question Of Death But The Question Of Life. Fear Of Death Shames Us All.
Life Is
Shame
Fear Of Death
The Best American Writers Have Come From The Hinterlands -- Mark Twain, Theodore Dreiser, Jack London, Hemingway, Faulkner, Wolfe, Steinbeck. Most Of Them Never Even Went To College.
College
London
Mark
When A Writer Has Done The Best That He Can Do, He Should Then Withdraw From The Book-writing Business And Take Up An Honest Trade Like Shoe Repair, Cattle Stealing, Or Screwworm Management.
Book
Writing
Shoes
I Believe In Nothing That I Cannot Touch, Kiss, Embrace.... The Rest Is Only Hearsay.
Believe
Kissing
Belief
The Axiom Of Conditioned Repetition, Like The Binomial Theorem, Is Nothing But A Piece Of Insolence.
Pieces
Insolence
Repetition
Music Begins Where Words Leave Off. Music Expresses The Inexpressible. If There Is A Kingdom Of Heaven, It Lies In Music.
Lying
Heaven
Kingdoms
What Draws Us Into The Desert Is The Search For Something Intimate In The Remote.
Desert
Intimate
Draws
It's True: Every Time You Kill An Elk, You're Saving Some Cow's Life.
Saving
Cows
Elk
The Tragic Sense Of Life: Our Heroic Acceptance Of The Suffering Of Others.
Acceptance
Suffering Of Others
Heroic
Truth Is Always The Enemy Of Power. And Power The Enemy Of Truth.
Enemy
Truth Is
Abolition Of A Woman's Right To Abortion, When And If She Wants It, Amounts To Compulsory Maternity: A Form Of Rape By The State.
Pro Life
Abortion
Want
Any Hack Can Safely Rail Away At Foreign Powers Beyond The Sea; But A Good Writer Is A Critic Of The Society He Lives In.
Sea
Critics
Rail
Whatever We Cannot Easily Understand We Call God; This Saves Much Wear And Tear On The Brain Tissues.
Positive
Brain
Tears
I Wait. Now The Night Flows Back, The Mighty Stillness Embraces And Includes Me; I Can See The Stars Again And The World Of Starlight. I Am Twenty Miles Or More From The Nearest Fellow Human, But Instead Of Loneliness I Feel Loveliness. Loveliness And A Quiet Exultation.
Stars
Loneliness
Night
Congress Is Always Willing To Appropriate Money For More And Bigger Paved Roads, Anywhere -- Particularly If They Form Loops.
Nature
Conservation
Form
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
I Would Prefer To Write About Everything; What Else Is There? But One Must Be Selective.
Writing
Selective
It Is Not An Easy Thing To Inflate A Dog.
Funny
Dog
Easy
Appearance Versus Reality? Appearance Is Reality, God Damn It!
Reality
Appearance
Damn
A Society That Feels Itself Too Poor To Afford The Preservation Of Wilderness Is Not Worthy Of The Name Civilization.
Nature
Civilization
Names
The Moral Duty Of The Free Writer Is To Begin His Work At Home: To Be A Critic Of His Own Community, His Own Country, His Own Government, His Own Culture. The More Freedom The Writer Possesses, The Greater The Moral Obligation To Play The Role Of Critic.
Country
Home
Government
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
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
Each Thing In Its Way, When True To Its Own Character, Is Equally Beautiful. (p 41)
Beautiful
Character
Way
Only A Fool Is Astonished By The Foolishness Of Mankind.
Fool
Mankind
Foolishness
We Need Wilderness Because We Are Wild Animals. Everyone Needs A Place Where He Can Go To Go Crazy In Peace. For The Terror, Freedom, And Delirium. Because We Need Brutality And Raw Adventure, Because Men And Women First Learned To Love In, Under, And All Around Trees, Because We Need For Every Pair Of Feet And Legs About Ten Leagues Of Naked Nature, Crags To Leap From, Mountains To Measure By, Deserts To Finally Die In When The Heart Fails.
Crazy
Heart
Adventure
Alaska's Chief Attractions Are: (a) Its Small And Insignificant Human Population, Thanks To The Miserable Climate; And (b) Its Large And Magnificent Wildlife Population, Thanks To (a). Both Of These Attractions Are Being Rapidly Diminished, However, By (c) The Law Of Growth And Space-age Sleaze.
Law
Space
Alaska
Mozart, Striving For Perfection, Wrote The Same Symphony Forty-one Times. In His Case, It Worked. He Wrote A Perfect Symphony.
Symphony
Perfect
Strive
Critics Are Like Ticks On A Dog Or Tits On A Motor: Ornamental But Dysfunctional.
Dog
Tick
Critics
A Woman, As Much As A Man, Is Responsible By The Age Of Forty For The Character Of Her Face. But Women, Obeying The Biological Imperative, Strive Harder To Preserve A Youthful Appearance (the Reproductive Look) And Lose It Sooner.
Character
Men
Age
If America Could Be, Once Again, A Nation Of Self-reliant Farmers, Craftsmen, Hunters, Ranchers, And Artists, Then The Rich Would Have Little Power To Dominate Others. Neither To Serve Nor To Rule: That Was The American Dream.
Dream
Artist
Self
The Ideal Kitchen-sink Novel: Throw In Everything But The Kitchen Sink. Then Add The Kitchen Sink.
Kitchen
Add
Novel
For This World That Men Have Made, None Of Us Is Bad Enough. For The World That Made Us, None Is Good Enough.
Men
World
Good Enough
In The American Southwest, I Began A Lifelong Love Affair With A Pile Of Rock.
Rocks
Climbing
Hiking
From The Point Of View Of A Tapeworm, Man Was Created By God To Serve The Appetite Of The Tapeworm.
Positive
Atheist
Men
I Am Not An Atheist But An Earthiest. Be True To The Earth.
Atheist
Earth
Being True
Belief In God? An Afterlife? I Believe In Rock: This Apodictic Rock Beneath My Feet.
Believe
Feet
Rocks
In History-as-politics, The 'future' Is That Vacuum In Time Waiting To Be Filled With The Antics Of Statesmen.
Waiting
Vacuums
Antics
It's A Fool's Life, A Rogue's Life, And A Good Life If You Keep Laughing All The Way To The Grave.
Good Life
Laughing
Way
One Single Act Of Defiance Against Power, Against The State That Seems Omnipotent But Is Not, Transforms And Transfigures The Human Personality. At Least For A Time. For A While. Perhaps That Is Enough.
Personality
Enough
States
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