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
Truth is always the enemy of power. And power the enemy of truth.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Truth and power are in constant conflict, each undermining the other.
This quote by Edward Abbey suggests a fundamental tension between truth and power. It implies that those in power often distort or suppress the truth to maintain their dominance, while the pursuit of truth can undermine established powers. Abbey's perspective highlights the ethical dilemmas faced when truth confronts authority, emphasizing the necessity for integrity and honesty in the face of coercive forces.
Themes
TruthPowerConflictAuthorityHonesty
In practice
Example use cases
In a political debate, one might quote Abbey to highlight the tensions between politicians' statements and their underlying truth.
More from Edward Abbey
All quotes βI 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.
Edward AbbeyRead
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.
Edward AbbeyRead
I believe in nothing that I cannot touch, kiss, embrace.... The rest is only hearsay.
Edward AbbeyRead
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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A first grader should understand that her or his culture isn't a rational invention; that there are thousands of other cultures and they all work pretty well; that all cultures function on faith rather than truth; that there are lots of alternatives to our own society...Cultural relativity is defensible, attractive. It's a source of hope. It means we don't have to continue this way if we don't like it.
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Animals are my friends... and I don't eat my friends.
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Our bones ache only while the flesh is on them. Stretch it as thin as the temple flesh of an ailing woman and still it serves to ache the bone and to move the bone about; and in like manner the night is a skin pulled over the head of day that the day may be in a torment. We will find no comfort until the night melts away; until the fury of the night rots out its fire.
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We're part of creating this world in which we live, but we're unaware of how we do that or even that we do that.
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