--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Strolling on, it seems to me that the…" description: "\"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 ..." 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… ![“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 in spareness and simplicity, with a generous gift of space for each…” quote by Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f0/edward-abbey-254_barren_strolling-on-it-seems-to-me-that-the-str_985397.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6f0/edward-abbey-254_barren_strolling-on-it-seems-to-me-that-the-str_985397.png) [Open 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 in spareness and simplicity, with a generous gift of space for each herb and bush and tree, each stem of grass, so that the living organism stands out bold and brave and vivid against the lifeless sand and barren rock. The extreme clarity of the desert light is equaled by the extreme individuation of desert life-forms. Love flowers best in openness and freedom.” [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The desert’s emptiness highlights each life’s uniqueness, showing that openness and space let organisms thrive boldly. **In simple terms:** Desert openness reveals bold life. Key Takeaway Seek space to grow. Themes nature individuality freedom Mood contemplative reflective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - gardening - urban planning - personal development - creative work Key Concepts ecology existentialism Questions to Reflect On - How does space affect creativity? - When does solitude become harmful? A Different Perspective Too much isolation can feel lonely. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Brave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brave/) [Clarity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clarity/) [Desert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desert/) [Existence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existence/) [Extremes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extremes/) [Flora](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flora/) [Flora and fauna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flora-and-fauna/) [Flower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flower/) [Flower love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flower-love/) [Generous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/generous/) [Individuation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individuation/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Light](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/light/) [Living organisms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/living-organisms/) [Openness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/openness/) [Organisms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organisms/) [Rocks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rocks/) [Sense of wonder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sense-of-wonder/) [Simplicity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/simplicity/) [Space](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/space/) [Standing out](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/standing-out/) [Strangeness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strangeness/) [Tree](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tree/) [Vivid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vivid/) [Wonder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wonder/) ## Related quotes > [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/) > [I find Los Angeles to be a place of great physical beauty, in which you have the oceans and the mountains, and there's a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-gilroy/i-find-los-angeles-to-be-a-place-of-great-physical-beauty-in-which/) [Dan Gilroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-gilroy/) > [Love flowers best in openness and freedom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/love-flowers-best-in-openness-and-freedom/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) > [Much love much trial, but what an utter desert is life without love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/much-love-much-trial-but-what-an-utter-desert-is-life-without-love/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [“I beg your pardon, dune sea, but I am just here to get my girls. If you would kindly. This is not my first…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claire-vaye-watkins/i-beg-your-pardon-dune-sea-but-i-am-just-here-to-get-my-girls-if-you/) [Claire Vaye Watkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claire-vaye-watkins/) > [Life is the desert, life the solitude, death joins us to the great majority.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-young/life-is-the-desert-life-the-solitude-death-joins-us-to-the-great/) [Edward Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-young/) > [“The air was cool and soft. The desert looked empty from our great height, enough to believe the geographers and travel writers who tell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-lynn-murphy/the-air-was-cool-and-soft-the-desert-looked-empty-from-our-great/) C. Lynn Murphy > [“He’d lived in the desert all his life, and he loved it. He was its child. It was his home.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-taylor/he-d-lived-in-the-desert-all-his-life-and-he-loved-it-he-was-its/) [Tony Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-taylor/) > [“THE WEATHER OF LOVE Love Has a way of wilting Or blossoming At the strangest, Most unpredictable hour. This is how love is, An…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzy-kassem/the-weather-of-love-love-has-a-way-of-wilting-or-blossoming-at-the/) [Suzy Kassem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzy-kassem/) > [Life is the flower in which love is he honey.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/akanksha-rajyashree-shrestha/life-is-the-flower-in-which-love-is-he-honey/) Akanksha Rajyashree Shrestha > [Well, you know what? If that guy can do it, I can be myself too, and if that rapper can be himself and be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lil-b/well-you-know-what-if-that-guy-can-do-it-i-can-be-myself-too-and-if/) [Lil B](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lil-b/) > [He who does not love flowers has lost all love and fear of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-ludwig-tieck/he-who-does-not-love-flowers-has-lost-all-love-and-fear-of-god/) [Johann Ludwig Tieck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-ludwig-tieck/) > [Life is a flower of which love is honey.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/life-is-a-flower-of-which-love-is-honey/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Pain is not love. Love flowers; love gives without taking; love is serene and calm.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/pain-is-not-love-love-flowers-love-gives-without-taking-love-is/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [You know how some people seem to think that their love for classical music makes them spiritual or at least something quite special? And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-stout/you-know-how-some-people-seem-to-think-that-their-love-for-classical/) [Ruth Stout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-stout/) ## 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/) [Explore all 807 Edward Abbey quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) ## More Barren quotes > [“This book is written in a barren period of loss with an attempt to move forward towards substance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phindiwe-nkosi/this-book-is-written-in-a-barren-period-of-loss-with-an-attempt-to/) [Phindiwe Nkosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phindiwe-nkosi/) > [Virtue is as little to be acquired by learning as genius; nay, the idea is barren, and is only to be employed as an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-schopenhauer/virtue-is-as-little-to-be-acquired-by-learning-as-genius-nay-the-idea/) [Arthur Schopenhauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-schopenhauer/) > [I stayed in L.A. long enough to get on my feet, and then I moved back to New York. The reason I moved here…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iggy-pop/i-stayed-in-l-a-long-enough-to-get-on-my-feet-and-then-i-moved-back/) [Iggy Pop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iggy-pop/) > [You may boldly say, you did not plough Or trust the barren and ungrateful sands With the fruitful grain of your religious counsels.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-massinger/you-may-boldly-say-you-did-not-plough-or-trust-the-barren-and/) [Philip Massinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-massinger/) > [T is liberty crowns Britannia's Isle, And makes her barren rocks and her bleak mountains smile.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/t-is-liberty-crowns-britannia-s-isle-and-makes-her-barren-rocks-and/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [My icons do not raise up the blessed savior in elaborate cathedrals. They are constructed concentrations celebrating barren rooms. They bring a limited light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-flavin/my-icons-do-not-raise-up-the-blessed-savior-in-elaborate-cathedrals/) [Dan Flavin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-flavin/) > [“Just when normal life felt almost possible--when the world held some kind of order, meaning, even loveliness (prismatic spray of light through an icicle;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-wroblewski/just-when-normal-life-felt-almost-possible-when-the-world-held-some/) [David Wroblewski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-wroblewski/) > [The apparition of an evil, sick unconscious wild city rose before me in visible semblance, and about the dead buildings in the barren air,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-ginsberg/the-apparition-of-an-evil-sick-unconscious-wild-city-rose-before-me/) [Allen Ginsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-ginsberg/) > [Please don't settle for happiness. It's not good enough. Of course you deserve it, but if that's all you have in mind - happiness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/please-don-t-settle-for-happiness-it-s-not-good-enough-of-course-you/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [All men who live only according to their five senses, and seek nothing beyond the gratification of their natural appetites for pleasure and reputation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/all-men-who-live-only-according-to-their-five-senses-and-seek-nothing/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [I find the aesthetics of the 20th century hopelessly barren.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twyla-tharp/i-find-the-aesthetics-of-the-20th-century-hopelessly-barren/) [Twyla Tharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/twyla-tharp/) > [Perseverance gives power to weakness, and opens to poverty the world's wealth. It spreads fertility over the barren landscape, and buds the choicest flowers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-griswold-goodrich/perseverance-gives-power-to-weakness-and-opens-to-poverty-the-world-s/) Samuel Griswold Goodrich > [“Life without love is nothing but a barren piece of land.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dr-ashok-anand/life-without-love-is-nothing-but-a-barren-piece-of-land/) [Dr. Ashok Anand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dr-ashok-anand/) > [Fruits fail and love dies and time ranges;Thou art fed with perpetual breath, and alive after infinite changes,And fresh from the kisses of death,Of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/algernon-charles-swinburne/fruits-fail-and-love-dies-and-time-ranges-thou-art-fed-with-perpetual/) [Algernon Charles Swinburne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/algernon-charles-swinburne/) > [By the deficiency or absence of one necessary constituent, all the others being present, the soil is rendered barren for all those crops to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justus-von-liebig/by-the-deficiency-or-absence-of-one-necessary-constituent-all-the/) [Justus von Liebig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justus-von-liebig/) Browse all 324 Barren quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "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 in spareness and simplicity, with a generous gift of space for each herb and bush and tree, each stem of grass, so that the living organism stands out bold and brave and vivid against the lifeless sand and barren rock. 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