Some fine quotes. Plenty, to be precise.

Skybird · 07-12-12, 03:18 PM

Yesterday night, in bed, I read a philosophic essay, and the author repeatedly mentioned a name previously unknown to me, Edward Abbey. I have no clue on him, but found this site with quotes by him, and I liked what I read, and found plenty of lines I especially liked, especially in the later part of the list.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_Abbey

Some foretastes:

Quote:

Whatever we cannot easily understand we call God; this saves much wear and tear on the brain tissues.

According to the current doctrines of mysticoscientism, we human animals are really and actually nothing but "organic patterns of nodular energy composed of collocations of infinitesimal points oscillating on the multi-dimensional coordinates of the space-time continuum." I'll have to think about that. Sometime. Meantime, I'm going to gnaw on this sparerib, drink my Blatz beer, and contemplate the a posteriori coordinates of that young blonde over yonder, the one in the tennis skirt, tying her shoelaces.

Orthodoxy is a relaxation of the mind accompanied by a stiffening of the heart.

Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion.

The distrust of wit is the beginning of tyranny.

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

A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.

Anarchism is not a romantic fable but the hardheaded realization, based on five thousand years of experience, that we cannot entrust the management of our lives to kings, priests, politicians, generals, and county commissioners.

Anarchism is founded on the observation that since few men are wise enough to rule themselves, even fewer are wise enough to rule others.

In a nation of sheep, one brave man forms a majority.

The more corrupt a society, the more numerous its laws.

Freedom begins between the ears.

The "Terror" of the French Revolution lasted for ten years. The terror that preceded and led to it lasted for a thousand years.

Counterpart to the knee-jerk liberal is the new knee-pad conservative, always groveling before the rich and powerful.

What's the difference between a whore and a congressman? A congressman makes more money.

When the situation is hopeless, there's nothing to worry about.

Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul.

An empty man is full of himself.

I come more and more to the conclusion that wilderness, in America or anywhere else, is the only thing left that is worth saving.

If wilderness is outlawed, only outlaws can save wilderness.

The only thing worse than a knee-jerk liberal is a knee-pad conservative.

God is a sound people make when they're too tired to think anymore.

Hierarchical institutions are like giant bulldozers ***8212; obedient to the whim of any fool who takes the controls.

That picture!

Made in 1986. And no, he is no founding father.

On the guy: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/books/review/Miles.t.html?_r=1&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/A/Abbey,%20Edward?ref=edwardabbey

I know not more about him than the quotes, the picture and this NYT article, but I think it is possible I would have liked this man.

August · 07-12-12, 06:32 PM

He was Muslim.

u crank · 07-12-12, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by August

He was Muslim.

Yep, he's got a beard.

Skybird · 07-12-12, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by u crank

Yep, he's got a beard.

He was sata... I mean atheist, I meanwhile learned. Not difficult to see by the quotes, anyway.

Platapus · 07-12-12, 07:22 PM

The problem is that a long time ago, some guy held up a paper and the sunlight happened to bleed through.

The word was originally Dog.

It really makes everything much clearer.

u crank · 07-12-12, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skybird

He was sata... I mean atheist, I meanwhile learned. Not difficult to see by the quotes, anyway.

Yes. I read up on him. He was an original. I like what his friends put on his grave marker.

NO COMMENT

Very cool.

Sailor Steve · 07-13-12, 12:44 AM

Abbey became a legend among the American counterculture with the publication of this book in 1975:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monkey_Wrench_Gang

Codz · 07-13-12, 01:26 AM

Sorry, but I can't take an anarchist seriously, though some of his quotes are interesting. For one, anarchism isn't sustainable. Eventually whoever has the most guns will "unofficially" rule. It's a policy were the rule of the gun overcomes the rule of law.

Skybird · 07-13-12, 03:30 AM

I thought the same, but I have seen myself in increasing need to realise that the rule of the law got hijacked by new tyrants, and that this always seems to happen sooner or later. Which again introduces the law of the jungle: he who manages to control the law making, controls people, and by that he controls the majority of "guns" (call it law and order, or state monopoly) by which people get opressed again. We see it on big big scale currently in both the EU and in the US.

In the end, and if you think it to the end consequently, law and order is a form of anarchy/law of the strongest, too.

I have no solution to this dilemma. Maybe this: be strong yourself, stay free and defend freedom with teeth and claws, even when this makes you a lonely man. But the dilemma explains why from time to time there are revolutions cracking it up violently. Maybe like a bush fire prepares the ground and afterwards the soil is fertile and the green blooms again like crazy, revolutions are a good thing, a healthy cultural cleansing as well - at least some times as long as they do not bring some crazies like Mao or Lenin to power.

What I know for sure, on the other hand, is that these days the rule of law I cannot trust anymore. It has bitten me personally repeatedly in my life, and my family, and it today is a tool to enforce wanted agendas against the people, and rip them off their money while securing eternal rule for political actors on no longer legitimised levels. In other words it has become a tool of supression. When law gets abused, it becomes corrupted. When law becomes corrupted, it is corrupt law. Corrupt law deserve no loyalty. It strangles people - slowly, legally, underhandedly.

Codz · 07-13-12, 04:49 AM

Even if that were true, what would you replace it with? Communism? Fascism? Monarchy? Theocracy? Anarchy? All of those things sound substantially worse than the "corrupt" rule of law. At least in a republic, there are rights that you can't realistically trample without massive backlash from both the public and other countries.

If you answer "A less corrupt republic.", what's to stop that one from becoming corrupt eventually? I'll take the least crappy form of government out there. A representitive republic that is bound by an inalterable constitution.

07-13-12, 05:28 AM

Quote:

Even if that were true, what would you replace it with? Communism? Fascism? Monarchy? Theocracy? Anarchy?

Skybirdism

Skybird · 07-13-12, 05:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Codz

Even if that were true, what would you replace it with? Communism? Fascism? Monarchy? Theocracy? Anarchy? All of those things sound substantially worse than the "corrupt" rule of law. At least in a republic, there are rights that you can't realistically trample without massive backlash from both the public and other countries.

If you answer "A less corrupt republic.", what's to stop that one from becoming corrupt eventually? I'll take the least crappy form of government out there. A representitive republic that is bound by an inalterable constitution.

"Republic" is no holy grail, just a word with am meaning attached to it. When it is corrupted, then it is corrupted. When how it was meant is gone, then the meaning is gone. When you stay loyal to the eroded empty carcass of it, then you are under the spell of images from the past, and are a slave of the lack in the present. You get reigned, and not to your best benefit. You get reigned to the best benefit of those in command.

Skybird · 07-13-12, 06:00 AM

Hey, Abbey was Aquarius

, I just found out - like me!

Catfish · 07-13-12, 06:54 AM

Read "The monkey wrench gang" last year - you really should go read it.
One of the best books i read in the last 10 years.

"Resist much. Obey little." Edward Abbey

Skybird · 07-13-12, 07:12 AM

Ordered it two hours ago, after Steve's mentioning.

Seems to be the only one available in German.

07-12-12, 06:32 PM	#2
August Wayfaring Stranger Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 23,212 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	He was Muslim. __________________ Flanked by life and the funeral pyre. Putting on a show for you to see.

07-12-12, 07:22 PM	#5
Platapus Fleet Admiral Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19,375 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 0	The problem is that a long time ago, some guy held up a paper and the sunlight happened to bleed through. The word was originally Dog. It really makes everything much clearer. __________________ abusus non tollit usum - A right should NOT be withheld from people on the basis that some tend to abuse that right.

07-13-12, 12:44 AM	#7
Sailor Steve Eternal Patrol Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: High in the mountains of Utah Posts: 50,369 Downloads: 745 Uploads: 249	Abbey became a legend among the American counterculture with the publication of this book in 1975: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monkey_Wrench_Gang __________________ “Never do anything you can't take back.” —Rocky Russo

07-13-12, 01:26 AM	#8
Codz A-ganger Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 73 Downloads: 8 Uploads: 0	Sorry, but I can't take an anarchist seriously, though some of his quotes are interesting. For one, anarchism isn't sustainable. Eventually whoever has the most guns will "unofficially" rule. It's a policy were the rule of the gun overcomes the rule of law. __________________ "Magnificent desolation."-Buzz Aldrin

07-13-12, 03:30 AM	#9
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 42,649 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	I thought the same, but I have seen myself in increasing need to realise that the rule of the law got hijacked by new tyrants, and that this always seems to happen sooner or later. Which again introduces the law of the jungle: he who manages to control the law making, controls people, and by that he controls the majority of "guns" (call it law and order, or state monopoly) by which people get opressed again. We see it on big big scale currently in both the EU and in the US. In the end, and if you think it to the end consequently, law and order is a form of anarchy/law of the strongest, too. I have no solution to this dilemma. Maybe this: be strong yourself, stay free and defend freedom with teeth and claws, even when this makes you a lonely man. But the dilemma explains why from time to time there are revolutions cracking it up violently. Maybe like a bush fire prepares the ground and afterwards the soil is fertile and the green blooms again like crazy, revolutions are a good thing, a healthy cultural cleansing as well - at least some times as long as they do not bring some crazies like Mao or Lenin to power. What I know for sure, on the other hand, is that these days the rule of law I cannot trust anymore. It has bitten me personally repeatedly in my life, and my family, and it today is a tool to enforce wanted agendas against the people, and rip them off their money while securing eternal rule for political actors on no longer legitimised levels. In other words it has become a tool of supression. When law gets abused, it becomes corrupted. When law becomes corrupted, it is corrupt law. Corrupt law deserve no loyalty. It strangles people - slowly, legally, underhandedly. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

07-13-12, 04:49 AM	#10
Codz A-ganger Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 73 Downloads: 8 Uploads: 0	Even if that were true, what would you replace it with? Communism? Fascism? Monarchy? Theocracy? Anarchy? All of those things sound substantially worse than the "corrupt" rule of law. At least in a republic, there are rights that you can't realistically trample without massive backlash from both the public and other countries. If you answer "A less corrupt republic.", what's to stop that one from becoming corrupt eventually? I'll take the least crappy form of government out there. A representitive republic that is bound by an inalterable constitution. __________________ "Magnificent desolation."-Buzz Aldrin Last edited by Codz; 07-13-12 at 05:39 AM.

07-13-12, 06:00 AM	#13
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 42,649 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	Hey, Abbey was Aquarius , I just found out - like me! __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

07-13-12, 06:54 AM	#14
Catfish Dipped Squirrel Operative Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: ..where the ocean meets the sky Posts: 17,767 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	Read "The monkey wrench gang" last year - you really should go read it. One of the best books i read in the last 10 years. "Resist much. Obey little." Edward Abbey

07-13-12, 07:12 AM	#15
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 42,649 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	Ordered it two hours ago, after Steve's mentioning. Seems to be the only one available in German. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.