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
Our modern industrial economy takes a mountain covered with trees, lakes, running streams and transforms it into a mountain of junk, garbage, slime pits, and debris.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote criticizes the negative impact of industrialization on natural landscapes.
Edward Abbey's quote highlights the destructive transformation of natural environments due to industrialization. He contrasts the beauty of untouched nature, represented by mountains, trees, and clear waters, with the pollution and waste created by industrial processes, underscoring the environmental degradation that results from human activity.
Themes
IndustrializationNatureEnvironmentPollutionDestruction
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about environmental conservation, one might refer to Abbey's quote to illustrate the consequences of neglecting nature.
More from Edward Abbey
All quotes βI 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.
Edward AbbeyRead
If it's knowledge and wisdom you want, then seek out the company of those who do real work for an honest purpose.
Edward AbbeyRead
The earth is real. Only a fool, milking his cow, denies the cow's reality.
Edward AbbeyRead
I believe in nothing that I cannot touch, kiss, embrace.... The rest is only hearsay.
Edward AbbeyRead
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
Similar quotes
A lot of people think they need to give up nature to become adults but that's not true. However, you have to be careful how you describe and define 'nature.'
Richard LouvRead
I suppose there were moonless nights and dark ones with but a silver shaving and pale stars in the sky, but I remember them all as flooded with the rich indolence of a full moon.
Willa CatherRead
The recent upsurge of public concern over environmental questions reflects a belated recognition that man has been too cavalier in his relations with nature. Unless we arrest the depredations that have been inflicted so carelessly on our natural systems-which exist in an intricate set of balances-we face the prospect of ecological disaster.
Richard M. NixonRead
Nature and human life are as various as our several constitutions. Who shall say what prospect life offers to another?
Henry David ThoreauRead
My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing.
Aldous HuxleyRead
The English winter - ending in July to recommence in August
Lord ByronRead