“One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am ‘” a reluctant enthusiast’¦ a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here.
So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space.
Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators.
I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.”
– Edward Abbey
Brilliant!
Reminds me of the poem Invictus…
“Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.”
– William Ernest Henley
We had a couplet from that poem written on the cabin roof when we rowed the Atlantic.
I agree, except that people at desks aren’t enemies any more than people who lead any other lifestyle we don’t share.
I can’t thank you enough for all of the inspirational stuff you write and share Alastair. I have an adventurous heart and in the last 23 years of bringing up 4 kids and working hard to support them, I have made many sacrifices and I have dreamt and yearned for adventure and the childish freedom to do daft things outdoors. In my 50th year your book has now inspired me to start doing this again…just like I did in my teens and 20s. I’m doing some fun stuff now and loving it. Thank you!!!
That is so brilliant to hear – thank you!
Love this quote. 🙂