Married couples who quarrel bitterly every day may really need each other as deeply as those who appear to be desperately in love.
What's the difference between the Lone Ranger and God? There really is a Lone Ranger.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote contrasts the fictional character of the Lone Ranger with the divine, suggesting that while the Lone Ranger is real, God is a concept that is debated.
Edward Abbey's quote highlights the distinction between reality and belief. The Lone Ranger, as a tangible and fictional character, represents individual heroism and action, while the reference to God invokes a deeper philosophical discussion about faith and existence. Abbey cleverly critiques our willingness to accept the existence of mythic heroes while simultaneously questioning the belief in a higher power, inviting reflection on our perceptions of truth and spirituality.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the nature of reality versus fiction.
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.
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.
Similar quotes
You have to ask yourself the question 'Who am I?' This investigation will lead in the end to the discovery of something within you which is behind the mind. Solve that great problem and you will solve all other problems.
There is not an acre of ground on the globe that is in possession of its rightful owner, or that has not been taken away from owner after owner, cycle afer cycle, by force and bloodshed.
If a man has lost a leg or an eye, he knows he has lost a leg or an eye; but if he has lost a self - himself - he cannot know it, because he is no longer there to know it.
There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge.
If truth were not boring, science would have done away with God long ago. But God as well as the saints is a means to escape the dull banality of truth.
They tell him that there is no why, since the moment simply is and since all of them are trapped in the moment, like bugs in amber.