Married couples who quarrel bitterly every day may really need each other as deeply as those who appear to be desperately in love.
Edward AbbeyRead
I'm happy to respect authority when it's genuine authority, based on moral or intellectual or even technical superiority. I'm eager to follow a hero if we can find one. But I tend to resist or evade any kind of authority based merely on the power to coerce. Government, for example. The Army tried to train us to salute the uniform, not the man. Failed. I will salute the man, maybe, if I think he's worthy of it, but I don't salute uniforms anymore.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Genuine authority should be respected based on merit rather than coercion.
Edward Abbey emphasizes the importance of respecting authority only when it is founded on moral, intellectual, or technical superiority rather than mere power or coercion. He expresses a personal principle of allegiance to individuals whom he finds deserving, rather than to institutional symbols or roles that lack genuine merit.
Themes
AuthorityRespectCoercionMoralityIntellectGenuineFreedom
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about leadership styles, one might say this quote to illustrate the difference between coercive and genuine authority.
More from Edward Abbey
All quotes →I love America because it is a confused, chaotic mess - and I hope we can keep it this way for at least another thousand years. The permissive society is the free society.
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If it's knowledge and wisdom you want, then seek out the company of those who do real work for an honest purpose.
Edward AbbeyRead
The earth is real. Only a fool, milking his cow, denies the cow's reality.
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I believe in nothing that I cannot touch, kiss, embrace.... The rest is only hearsay.
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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.
Edward AbbeyRead
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