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
We live in a society in which it is normal to be sick; and sick to be abnormal.
Interpretation
This quote criticizes societal norms that accept sickness as standard while viewing health as unusual.
Edward Abbey's quote reflects on the paradoxical nature of modern society, suggesting that we have come to accept sickness as a common state of being, rather than striving for health. It highlights the irony in which the majority's acceptance of illness renders those who are healthy as 'abnormal', questioning the values and perceptions that shape our understanding of wellness and normalcy.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a discussion on public health policies.
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.
Democracy passes into despotism.
If you take 10,000 chimpanzees and cram them together into Wembley Stadium or the Houses of Parliament, you will get chaos. But if you take 10,000 people who have never met before, they can co-operate and create amazing things.
I remember a time when a cabbage could sell itself by being a cabbage. Nowadays itβs no good being a cabbage β unless you have an agent and pay him a commission. Nothing is free anymore to sell itself or give itself away. These days, Countess, every cabbage has its pimp.
If the militarily most powerful and least threatened states need nuclear weapons for their security, how can one deny such security to countries that are truly insecure? The present nuclear policy is a recipe for proliferation. It is a policy for disaster.
Rules and responsibilities: these are the ties that bind us. We do what we do, because of who we are. If we did otherwise, we would not be ourselves. I will do what I have to do. And I will do what I must.
The principles of Jefferson are the definitions and axioms of free society.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.