9 Quotes by Edward Abbey about government

  • Author Edward Abbey
  • Quote

    In this respect the differences between the USA and the USSR are those of evangelical dinosaurs competing for domination on one small planet: the first deifies Jesus Christ, the other Karl Marx. Neither has much practical interest in what those two sincere and hard-working fellows actually preached.

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  • Author Edward Abbey
  • Quote

    A true libertarian supports free enterprise, opposes big business; supports local self-government, opposes the nation-state; supports the National Rifle Association, opposes the Pentagon.

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  • Author Edward Abbey
  • Quote

    Terrorism: deadly violence against humans and other living things, usually conducted by government against its own people.

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  • Author Edward Abbey
  • Quote

    No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets.

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  • Author Edward Abbey
  • Quote

    Representative government has broken down. Our politicians represent not the people who vote for them but the commercial interests who finance their election campaigns. We have the best politicians that money can buy.

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  • Author Edward Abbey
  • Quote

    The purpose and function of government is not to preside over change but to prevent change. By political methods when unavoidable, by violence when convenient.

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