Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

"If it's knowledge and wisdom you want, then seek out the company of those who do real work for an honest purpose."

"Philosophy without action is the ruin of the soul. One brave deed is worth a hundred books, a thousand theories, a million words. Now as always we need heroes. And heroines! Down with the passive and the limp."

"I am hopeful, though not full of hope, and the only reason I don't believe in happy endings is because I don't believe in endings."

"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."

"If it's knowledge and wisdom you want, then seek out the company of those who do real work for an honest purpose."