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
Why I oppose the nuclear-arms race: I prefer the human race.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a preference for humanity over the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Edward Abbey's quote highlights the importance of valuing human life and the human experience above the dangers posed by the nuclear arms race. It suggests that the pursuit of such destructive capabilities undermines our shared humanity and calls for a return to what truly matters: the welfare of people and society as a whole.
In practice
In a speech about disarmament, you might quote Abbey to emphasize the need for prioritizing human welfare.
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.
Let go of the idea that the path will lead you to your goal. The truth is that with each step we take, we arrive. Repeat that to yourself every morning: 'I've arrived.' That way you'll find it much easier to stay in touch with each second of your day.
No nobler feeling than this, of admiration for one higher than himself, dwells in the breast of man. It is to this hour, and at all hours, the vivifying influence in man's life.
In order to satisfy one human stomach, so many lives are taken away. We must promote vegetarianism. It is extremely important.
We've gotten lost in our Ego and have forgotten that our Soul's only motive is to merge with the Beloved.
Then she saw a star fall, leaving behind it a bright streak of fire. βSomeone is dying,β thought the little girl, for her old grandmother, the only one who had ever loved her, and who was now dead, had told her that when a star falls, a soul was going up to God.
It offended his sense of himself, because he was an individual from an age of individuals, and a string of lights was, like him, an individual thing. No matter how little the thing had cost, to throw it away was to deny its value.
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