---
title: "2 Desert Life Quotes By Edward Abbey"
description: "2 Desert Life quotes by Edward Abbey. Plus more from Edward Abbey and more Desert Life sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f0/edward-abbey-254_barren_strolling-on-it-seems-to-me-that-the-str_985397.png"
---

> [Strolling on, it seems to me that the strangeness and wonder of existence are emphasized here, in the desert, by the comparative sparsity of the flora and fauna: life not crowded upon life as in other places but scattered abroad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/strolling-on-it-seems-to-me-that-the-strangeness-and-wonder-of/)

[Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f0/edward-abbey-254_barren_strolling-on-it-seems-to-me-that-the-str_985397.png)

> [The extreme clarity of the desert light is equaled by the extreme individuation of desert life forms. Love flowers best in openness and freedom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/the-extreme-clarity-of-the-desert-light-is-equaled-by-the-extreme/)

[Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c3/edward-abbey-254_clarity_the-extreme-clarity-of-the-desert-light_1181213.png)

## 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/)

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