918 Quotes by Edward Abbey


  • Author Edward Abbey
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    What is the essence of the art of writing? Part One: Have something to say. Part Two: Say it well.

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

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  • Author Edward Abbey
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    Certainly, I want to capture the reader's attention from the beginning and hold it until the end: that is half the purpose of my art. The other half must be to tell my story in the most honest way that I can.

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  • Author Edward Abbey
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    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.

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  • Author Edward Abbey
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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.

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