Married couples who quarrel bitterly every day may really need each other as deeply as those who appear to be desperately in love.
Edward AbbeyRead
Government: If you refuse to pay unjust taxes, your property will be confiscated. If you attempt to defend your property, you will be arrested. If you resist arrest, you will be clubbed. If you defend yourself against clubbing, you will be shot dead. These procedures are known as the Rule of Law.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote critiques the nature of government enforcement of laws, highlighting the consequences of resisting unjust authority.
Edward Abbey's quote reveals the inherent violence and oppression often found within legal systems when they are used to enforce unjust taxes and policies. It illustrates how individuals, when standing up against an unfair government, face severe repercussions, transforming the concept of the 'Rule of Law' into a mechanism for sustaining authority rather than serving justice.
Themes
GovernmentUnjust LawsResistanceOppressionRule Of Law
In practice
Example use cases
During a protest against unfair taxation, this quote highlights the illegal repercussions faced by citizens for standing up for their rights.
More from Edward Abbey
All quotes →I love America because it is a confused, chaotic mess - and I hope we can keep it this way for at least another thousand years. The permissive society is the free society.
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If it's knowledge and wisdom you want, then seek out the company of those who do real work for an honest purpose.
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The earth is real. Only a fool, milking his cow, denies the cow's reality.
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I believe in nothing that I cannot touch, kiss, embrace.... The rest is only hearsay.
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Why can't we simply borrow what is useful to us from Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, especially Zen, as we borrow from Christianity, science, American Indian traditions and world literature in general, including philosophy, and let the rest go hang? Borrow what we need but rely principally upon our own senses, common sense and daily living experience.
Edward AbbeyRead
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