I had been chipping at the world idly, and had by accident uncovered vast and labyrinthine further worlds within it. — Annie Dillard Copy Share Image
“If, as Heraclitus suggests, god, like an oracle, neither "declares nor hides, but sets forth by signs," then clearly I had better… — Annie Dillard Copy Share Image
Cruelty is a mystery, and the waste of pain. But if we describe a word to compass these things, a world that… — Annie Dillard Copy Share Image
I am sorry I ran from you. I am still running, running from that knowledge, that eye, that love from which there… — Annie Dillard Copy Share Image
The painter... does not fit the paints to the world. He most certainly does not fit the world to himself. He fits… — Annie Dillard Copy Share Image
“I want to climb up the blank blue dome as a man would storm the inside of a circus tent, wildly, dangling,… — Annie Dillard Copy Share Image
It could be that our faithlessness is a cowering cowardice born of our very smallness, a massive failure of imagination... If we… — Annie Dillard Copy Share Image
The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside by a generous hand. But- and this is the point- who… — Annie Dillard Copy Share Image
When I was six or seven years old, growing up in Pittsburgh, I used to take a precious penny of my own… — Annie Dillard Copy Share Image
There is always the temptation in life to diddle around making itsy-bitsy friends and meals and journeys for years on end. It… — Annie Dillard Copy Share Image
It is the fixed that horrifies us, the fixed that assails us with the tremendous force of mindlessness. The fixed is a… — Annie Dillard Copy Share Image
I am a frayed and nibbled survivor in a fallen world, and I am getting along. I am aging and eaten and… — Annie Dillard Copy Share Image
It would seem that emotions are the curse, not death-emotions that appear to have developed upon a few freaks as a special… — Annie Dillard Copy Share Image
After the one extravagant gesture of creation in the first place, the universe has continued to deal exclusively in extravagances, flinging intricacies… — Annie Dillard Copy Share Image
I like to be aware of a book as a piece of writing, and aware of its structure as a product of… — Annie Dillard Copy Share Image
The mind wants to live forever, or to learn a very good reason why not. The mind wants the world to return… — Annie Dillard Copy Share Image
It's about waking up. A child wakes up over and over again, and notices that she's living. She dreams along, loving the… — Annie Dillard Copy Share Image
Hasidism has a tradition that one of man's purposes is to assist God in the work of redemption by "hallowing" the things… — Annie Dillard Copy Share Image
We live in all we seek. The hidden shows up in too-plain sight. It lives captive on the face of the obvious - the… — Annie Dillard Copy Share
“...The mockingbird took a single step into the air and dropped. His wings were still folded against his sides as though he were singing… — Annie Dillard Copy Share
“Father had stretched out his long legs and was tilting back in his chair. Mother sat with her knees crossed, in blue slacks, smoking… — Annie Dillard Copy Share
I am a frayed and nibbled survivor in a fallen world, and I am getting along. I am aging and eaten and have done… — Annie Dillard Copy Share
It should surprise no one that the life of the writer - such as it is - is colorless to the point of sensory… — Annie Dillard Copy Share
It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life… — Annie Dillard Copy Share
The sense impressions of one-celled animals are not edited for the brain. This is philosophically interesting in a rather mournful way, since it means… — Annie Dillard Copy Share
“What can we make of the inexpressible joy of children? It is a kind of gratitude, I think—the gratitude of the ten-year-old who wakes… — Annie Dillard Copy Share
“If we were to judge nature by its common sense or likelihood, we wouldn't believe the world existed. In nature, improbabilities are the one… — Annie Dillard Copy Share
For writing a first draft requires from the writer a peculiar internal state which ordinary life does not induce. ... how to set yourself spinning? — Annie Dillard Copy Share
