“We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it. We need a refuge even though we may not ever need to go there.”

— Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire, 1968, p. 116

About Edward Abbey

1927 – 1989

American author and environmental advocate, known for "Desert Solitaire".

“Love flowers best in openness and freedom.”

“Heaven is home. Utopia is here. Nirvana is now.”

“It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it's still here.”

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

“It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?”

“In theory there is nothing to hinder our following what we are taught; but in life there are many things to draw us aside.”

“If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages princes' palaces.”

“That which makes the man no worse than he was makes his life no worse: it has no power to harm, without or within.”

“Always take the short cut; and that is the rational one. Therefore say and do everything according to soundest reason.”