--- title: "4 Anarchism Quotes By Edward Abbey" description: "4 Anarchism quotes by Edward Abbey. Plus more from Edward Abbey and more Anarchism sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/93f/edward-abbey-254_anarchism_anarchism-is-not-a-romantic-fable-but-th_296985.png" --- > [Anarchism is not a romantic fable but the hardheaded realization, based on five thousand years of experience, that we cannot entrust the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/anarchism-is-not-a-romantic-fable-but-the-hardheaded-realization/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/93f/edward-abbey-254_anarchism_anarchism-is-not-a-romantic-fable-but-th_296985.png) > [Anarchism? You bet your sweet betsy. The only cure for the ills of democracy is more democracy. Much more.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/anarchism-you-bet-your-sweet-betsy-the-only-cure-for-the-ills-of/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f7f/edward-abbey-254_anarchism_anarchism-you-bet-your-sweet-betsy-the-o_391061.png) > [Anarchism is founded on the observation that since few men are wise enough to rule themselves, even fewer are wise enough to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/anarchism-is-founded-on-the-observation-that-since-few-men-are-wise/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9dc/edward-abbey-254_anarchism_anarchism-is-founded-on-the-observation_1434328.png) > [Anarchism is democracy taken seriously.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/anarchism-is-democracy-taken-seriously/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e0d/edward-abbey-254_anarchism_anarchism-is-democracy-taken-seriously-2_2546715.png) ## Other authors on Anarchism - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b009/author-emma-goldman-33179.jpg) Emma Goldman 37 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anarchism/emma-goldman/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b018/author-murray-bookchin-69610.jpg) Murray Bookchin 23 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anarchism/murray-bookchin/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b018/author-noam-chomsky-71799.jpg) Noam Chomsky 16 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anarchism/noam-chomsky/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b004/author-april-gornik-14426.jpg) Rudolf Rocker 14 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anarchism/rudolf-rocker/) - [Errico Malatesta 12 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anarchism/errico-malatesta/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b005/author-benjamin-tucker-17200.jpg) Benjamin Tucker 10 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anarchism/benjamin-tucker/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b024/author-voltairine-de-cleyre-94067.jpg) Voltairine de Cleyre 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anarchism/voltairine-de-cleyre/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b011/author-howard-zinn-42481.jpg) Howard Zinn 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anarchism/howard-zinn/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b009/author-ernst-junger-33887.jpg) Ernst Jünger 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anarchism/ernst-junger/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b007/author-david-graeber-27506.jpg) David Graeber 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anarchism/david-graeber/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b019/author-pierrejoseph-proudhon-75664.jpg) Pierre-Joseph Proudhon 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anarchism/pierre-joseph-proudhon/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b013/author-johannes-von-tepl-50817.jpg) Anup Joshi 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anarchism/anup-joshi/) ## More by Edward Abbey > [A man could be a lover and defender of the wilderness without ever in his lifetime leaving the boundaries of asphalt, powerlines, and right-angled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/a-man-could-be-a-lover-and-defender-of-the-wilderness-without-ever-in/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [Apuleius married a rich widow, then wrote \_The Golden Ass\_.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/apuleius-married-a-rich-widow-then-wrote-the-golden-ass/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [Except for the scale of the operation, there was nothing unusual about Hitler's massacre of the Jews. Genocide's an old tradition, as human as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/except-for-the-scale-of-the-operation-there-was-nothing-unusual-about/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [By the age of eighteen, a human has acquired enough joy and heartache to provide the food of reflection for a century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/by-the-age-of-eighteen-a-human-has-acquired-enough-joy-and-heartache/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [“Our institutions are too big; they represent not the best but the worst characteristics of human beings. By submitting to huge hierarchies of power,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/our-institutions-are-too-big-they-represent-not-the-best-but-the/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [No man-made structure in all of American history has been hated so much, by so many, for so long, with such good reason, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/no-man-made-structure-in-all-of-american-history-has-been-hated-so/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [Where all pretend to be thinking alike, it's likely that no one is thinking at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/where-all-pretend-to-be-thinking-alike-it-s-likely-that-no-one-is/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [Nobody has so many friends that he can afford to lose one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/nobody-has-so-many-friends-that-he-can-afford-to-lose-one/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [“But why, the questioner insists, why do people like you pretend to love uninhabited country so much? Why this cult of wilderness? Why the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/but-why-the-questioner-insists-why-do-people-like-you-pretend-to-love/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [Civilization is a youth with a molotov cocktail in his hand. Culture is the Soviet tank or L.A. cop that guns him down.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/civilization-is-a-youth-with-a-molotov-cocktail-in-his-hand-culture/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [All revolutions have failed? Perhaps. But rebellion for good cause is self- justifying -- a good in itself. Rebellion transforms slaves into human beings,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/all-revolutions-have-failed-perhaps-but-rebellion-for-good-cause-is/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [“Me, I'm living under a sword too, as Jack may have told you. An old wino's disease, which could lay me in the grave…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/me-i-m-living-under-a-sword-too-as-jack-may-have-told-you-an-old-wino/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [“Look here, I want to say, for godsake folks get out of them there machines, take off those fucking sunglasses and unpeel both eyeballs,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/look-here-i-want-to-say-for-godsake-folks-get-out-of-them-there/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [Reason has seldom failed us because it has seldom been tried.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/reason-has-seldom-failed-us-because-it-has-seldom-been-tried/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [“What is the essence of the art of writing? Part One: Have something to say. Part Two: Say it well.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/what-is-the-essence-of-the-art-of-writing-part-one-have-something-to/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anarchism/edward-abbey/#itemlist", "name": "4 Anarchism Quotes By Edward Abbey", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "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.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Edward Abbey" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/anarchism-is-not-a-romantic-fable-but-the-hardheaded-realization/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/93f/edward-abbey-254_anarchism_anarchism-is-not-a-romantic-fable-but-th_296985.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/93f/edward-abbey-254_anarchism_anarchism-is-not-a-romantic-fable-but-th_296985.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/93f/edward-abbey-254_anarchism_anarchism-is-not-a-romantic-fable-but-th_296985.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Anarchism is not a romantic fable but the hardheaded realization, based on five thousand years of…” — Edward Abbey", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Anarchism? 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