Annie Dillard quotes - page 4

You are wrong if you think that you can in any way take the vision and tame it to the page. The page is jealous and tyrannical; the page is made of time and matter; the page always wins. (Annie Dillard)

He judged the instant and let go; he flung himself loose into the stars.

Annie Dillard

The Pulitzer is more useful than meaningful.

Annie Dillard

Does anything eat flowers. I couldn't recall having seen anything eat a flower are they nature's privileged pets.

Annie Dillard

Many writers do little else but sit in small rooms recalling the real world.

Annie Dillard

Having chosen this foolishness, I was a free being. How could the world ever stop me, how could I betray myself, if I was not afraid?

Annie Dillard

I had been chipping at the world idly, and had by accident uncovered vast and labyrinthine further worlds within it.

Annie Dillard

Admire the world for never ending on you -- as you would an opponent, without taking your eyes away from him, or walking away.

Annie Dillard

I think the dying pray at the last not please but thank you as a guest thanks his host at the door.

Annie Dillard

I come down to the water to cool my eyes. But everywhere I look I see fire; that which isn't flint is tinder, and the whole world sparks and flames.

Annie Dillard

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour and with that one, is what we are doing. (Annie Dillard)

Books swept me away, this way and that, one after the other; I made endless vows according to their lights for I believed them.

Annie Dillard

When I first read the words 'introvert' and 'extrovert' when I was 10, I thought I was both.

Annie Dillard

If you're going to publish a book, you probably are going to make a fool of yourself.

Annie Dillard

I am a frayed and nibbled survivor in a fallen world, and I am getting along. I am aging and eaten and have done my share of eating too.

Annie Dillard

The mind of the writer does indeed do something before it dies, and so does its owner, but I would be hard put to call it living.

Annie Dillard

It makes more sense to write one big book - a novel or nonfiction narrative - than to write many stories or essays. Into a long, ambitious project you can fit or pour all you possess and learn.

Annie Dillard

All my books started out as extravagant and ended up pure and plain.

Annie Dillard

I wake up thinking: What am I reading? What will I read next? I'm terrified that I'll run out, that I will read through all I want to, and be forced to learn wildflowers at last, to keep awake.

Annie Dillard

Buddhism notes that it is always a mistake to think your soul can go it alone.

Annie Dillard

It's a little silly to finally learn how to write at this age. But I long ago realized I was secretly sincere. (Annie Dillard)

Last forever!' Who hasn't prayed that prayer? You were lucky to get it in the first place. The present is a freely given canvas. That it is constantly being ripped apart and washed downstream goes without saying.

Annie Dillard

Caring passionately about something isn't against nature, and it isn't against human nature. It's what we're here to do.

Annie Dillard

Outright predators, of course, I understand. I am among them. There is no denying that the feats of predators can be just as gruesome as those of the unlovely parasites: the swathing and sipping of trapped hummingbirds by barn spiders, the occasional killing and eating of monkeys by chimpanzees. If I were to eat as the delicate ladybug eats, I would go through in just nine days the entire population of Boys Town. Nevertheless, the most rapacious lurk and charge of any predator is not nearly so sinister as the silent hatching of barely visible, implanted eggs. With predators, at least you have a chance.

Annie Dillard

Even such sophisticated mammals as the great predator cats occasionally eat their cubs. A mother cat will be observed licking the area around the umbilical cord of the helpless newborn. She licks, she licks, she licks until something snaps in her brain, and she begins eating, starting there, at the vulnerable belly.

Annie Dillard

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Annie Dillard

Occupation: American Author
Born: April 30, 1945
Quotes count: 119
Wikipedia: Annie Dillard

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