Misattribution & misquote notes: Abbey’s quote has been incorrectly attributed to American revolutionary author & activist Thomas Paine. We did not find any evidence to support the idea that the words originated with Paine, and the National Thomas Paine Historical Association scholars have also noted that Paine did not say or write anything resembling this statement. Common Edward Abbey quote variations also misattributed to Paine include:

“It is the duty of every patriot to protect his country from his government.”

“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from his government.”

Extended excerpt: None. Quote appears as a single aphorism in a collection. In his introduction to A Voice Crying in the Wilderness, Abbey describes the ‘shell’ of the book as “a private journal I’ve been keeping, fairly faithfully, since 1948; a journal now twenty-one volumes long, and this chick, the bird or book, is simply a collection of fragments from that twenty-one-year-old personal record.” (p. ix)

Source: Editor’s ebook  – A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (1989 – 2015 RosettaBooks edition) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 978079534555

Extended excerpt: None. Quote appears as a single aphorism in a collection. In his introduction to A Voice Crying in the Wilderness, Abbey describes the ‘shell’ of the book as “a private journal I’ve been keeping, fairly faithfully, since 1948; a journal now twenty-one volumes long, and this chick, the bird or book, is simply a collection of fragments from that twenty-one-year-old personal record.” (p. ix)

Source: Editor’s eBook – A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (1989 – 2015 RosettaBooks edition) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 978079534555

Extended excerpt: [Essay] “Balance, that’s the secret. Moderate extremism. The best of both worlds. Unlike Thoreau who insisted on one world at a time I am attempting to make the best of two. After six months in the desert I am volunteering for a winter of front-line combat duty – caseworker, public warfare department – in the howling streets of Megalomania, U.S.A.” (p. 265)

Source: Library – Desert Solitaire (1968 |1990 Touchstone edition), International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-671-6958-6

Extended excerpt:

[Non-fiction. Chapter one: “A Walk in the Desert Hills”]

“If the life of natural things, millions of years old, does not seem sacred to us, then what can be sacred? Human vanity alone? Contempt for the natural world implies contempt for life. The domination of nature leads to the domination of human nature. Anything becomes permissible.”

(p. 44)

Source: Library – Beyond the Wall (1984) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 978-0-03-069299-4

Source note: In his preface to Beyond the Wall, Abbey wrote: “A portion of the essay “Gather at the River” first appeared in Outside [magazine] in the fall of 1983. …The remaining essays in this book were first published during the 1970s as parts of the text of large-format scenic photography books. …Most of these books were expensive (one retailed for a flat $100); my enemies could buy them but few of my friends. All but The Hidden Canyon and Cactus Country are now out of print and unavailable. This seemed to me to be adequate justification for recollecting and revising what I feel are the best of the chapters of those books.”

The book’s copyright notes also state that portions of chapter one were previously published in GEO “in a somewhat different form and with different titles”.

Extended excerpt: [Non-fiction]

“We go for a walk, my dog and I, watching the sunset die by slow degrees on the western sky. We walk for miles and miles on the dirt road, see nothing man-made but a corral and loading chute and windmill. My belly hurts; we return to the truck. I fill the dog’s water bowl, pour a ration of Purina Hi-Pro Krunchies into her feed dish and give her another Nizoral tablet, encased in a lump of cheese, for the fungus in her lungs.

I know, when a man’s best friend is his dog that man needs help –professional help. I understand that and I acknowledge it and I say to hell with it.” (p. 148)

Source: Library – The Fool’s Progress: An Honest Novel (15 August 1988) eBook via Scribd [subscription service], International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 978-1-4668-0629-0

Source note: From the Fool’s Progress copyright notes: “Parts of this novel first appeared, in different form, in City Magazine, New Times, Confessions of a Barbarian (Capra Press), and Slumgullion Stew: A Reader (E.P. Dutton)

Extended excerpt: None. Quote appears as a single aphorism in a collection. In his introduction to A Voice Crying in the Wilderness, Abbey describes the ‘shell’ of the book as “a private journal I’ve been keeping, fairly faithfully, since 1948; a journal now twenty-one volumes long, and this chick, the bird or book, is simply a collection of fragments from that twenty-one-year-old personal record.” (p. ix)

Source: Editor’s eBook copy – A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (1989 – 2015 RosettaBooks edition) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 978079534555

Extended excerpt: [Non-fiction]

“The longest journey begins with a single step, not the turn of an ignition key. That’s the best thing about walking, the journey itself. It doesn’t much matter whether you get where you’re going or not. You’ll get there anyway.” (p. 205)

Source: Editor’s eBook copy – A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (1989 – 2015 RosettaBooks edition) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 978079534555

Extended excerpt: None. Quote appears as a single aphorism in a collection. In his introduction to A Voice Crying in the Wilderness, Abbey describes the ‘shell’ of the book as “a private journal I’ve been keeping, fairly faithfully, since 1948; a journal now twenty-one volumes long, and this chick, the bird or book, is simply a collection of fragments from that twenty-one-year-old personal record.” (p. ix)

Source: Editor’s eBook copy – A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (1989 – 2015 RosettaBooks edition) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 978079534555

Extended excerpt: [Book preface – Written by Abbey in Oracle, Arizona, October 1983]

“We need no more words on the matter. What we need now are heroes. And heroines. About a million of them. One brave deed is worth a thousand books. Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul.” (p. xv)

Source: Library – Beyond the Wall (1984) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 978-0-03-069299-4

Extended excerpt: None. Quote appears as a single aphorism in a collection. In his introduction to A Voice Crying in the Wilderness, Abbey describes the ‘shell’ of the book as “a private journal I’ve been keeping, fairly faithfully, since 1948; a journal now twenty-one volumes long, and this chick, the bird or book, is simply a collection of fragments from that twenty-one-year-old personal record.” (p. ix)

Source: Editor’s eBook copy – A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (1989 – 2015 RosettaBooks edition) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 978079534555

Extended excerpt: [Non-fiction] “No, wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread. A civilization which destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself.” (p. 169)

Source: Library – Desert Solitaire (1968 |1990 Touchstone edition), International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 0-671-6958-6

Extended excerpt: None. Quote appears as a single aphorism in a collection. In his introduction to A Voice Crying in the Wilderness, Abbey describes the ‘shell’ of the book as “a private journal I’ve been keeping, fairly faithfully, since 1948; a journal now twenty-one volumes long, and this chick, the bird or book, is simply a collection of fragments from that twenty-one-year-old personal record.” (p. ix)

Source: Editor’s eBook copy – A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (1989 – 2015 RosettaBooks edition) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 978079534555

Extended excerpt: None. Quote appears as a single aphorism in a collection. In his introduction to A Voice Crying in the Wilderness, Abbey describes the ‘shell’ of the book as “a private journal I’ve been keeping, fairly faithfully, since 1948; a journal now twenty-one volumes long, and this chick, the bird or book, is simply a collection of fragments from that twenty-one-year-old personal record.” (p. ix)

Source note: Abbey also included a similar aphorism on page 60 of the same book: “Some people write to please, to soothe, to console. Others to provoke, to challenge, to exasperate and infuriate. I’ve always found the second approach the more pleasing.”

Source: Editor’s eBook copy – A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (1989 – 2015 RosettaBooks edition) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 978079534555

Extended excerpt: None. Quote appears as a single aphorism in a collection. In his introduction to A Voice Crying in the Wilderness, Abbey describes the ‘shell’ of the book as “a private journal I’ve been keeping, fairly faithfully, since 1948; a journal now twenty-one volumes long, and this chick, the bird or book, is simply a collection of fragments from that twenty-one-year-old personal record.” (p. ix)

Source: Editor’s eBook copy – A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (1989 – 2015 RosettaBooks edition) International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 978079534555