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
May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.
Interpretation
This quote encourages embracing life's challenges to reach beautiful outcomes.
Edward Abbey's quote speaks to the journey of life, suggesting that the path we take may be fraught with difficulty and uncertainty, yet it is exactly these challenges that can lead us to the most breathtaking experiences and achievements. The imagery of trails that are 'crooked' and 'winding' implies that life is not always straightforward, while 'mountains' rising above the clouds symbolizes the higher goals and aspirations that we can achieve through perseverance.
In practice
In a graduation speech to inspire students about their future journeys.
Married couples who quarrel bitterly every day may really need each other as deeply as those who appear to be desperately in love.
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.
If it's knowledge and wisdom you want, then seek out the company of those who do real work for an honest purpose.
The earth is real. Only a fool, milking his cow, denies the cow's reality.
I believe in nothing that I cannot touch, kiss, embrace.... The rest is only hearsay.
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.
Sometimes the rewards of risk don't leave us wrecked. Sometimes we find our passion, our purpose, courage, connection, and comfort. Every good thing in our lives is a direct result of risk.
We're here for a reason. I believe a bit of the reason is to throw little torches out to lead people through the dark.
Lose yourself in the music, the moment - you own it.
Don't wanna sleep, don't wanna die, just wanna go a-travellin' through the pastures of the sky
Arise! Arise! A tidal wave is coming! Onward! Men and women, down to the Chandala (Pariah) - all are pure in his eyes. Onward! Onward! There is no time to care for name, or fame, or Mukti, or Bhakti! We shall look to these some other time. Now in this life let us infinitely spread his lofty character, his sublime life, his infinite soul. This is the only work - there is nothing else to do.
Your dreams, what you hope for and all that, it's not separate from your life. It grows right up out of it.
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