And if the computer gives you any back talk, pour some well-sugared office coffee into its evil little silicon brain.

— Edward Abbey

And the so-called 'political process' is a fraud: Our elected officials, like our bureaucratic functionaries, like even our judges, are largely the indentured servants of the commercial interests.

— Edward Abbey

An economic system which can only expand or expire must be false to all that is human.

— Edward Abbey

An empty man is full of himself.

— Edward Abbey

A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.

— Edward Abbey

As a confirmed melancholic, I can testify that the best and maybe only antidote for melancholia is action. However, like most melancholics, I suffer also from sloth.

— Edward Abbey

As for writing, that's a cruel hard business. Unless you're very lucky it'll break your heart.

— Edward Abbey

As to the charge that I am a cranky old man, I plead guilty.

— Edward Abbey

A writer must be hard to live with: when not working he is miserable, and when he is working he is obsessed. Or so it is with me. Thus, my writing life consists of spells of languor alternating with fits and spasms of mad typing. At all times, though, I keep a journal, a record book, and most everything begins in the form of notes scribbled down on the pages of that journal.

— Edward Abbey

Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination.

— Edward Abbey