--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: After the one extravagant gesture of…" description: "\"After the one extravagant gesture of creation in the first place, the universe has continued to deal exclusively in extravagances, flinging intricacies..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f62/annie-dillard-509_creation_after-the-one-extravagant-gesture-of-cre_850505.jpg" --- # After the one extravagant gesture of creation in the first… ![“After the one extravagant gesture of creation in the first place, the universe has continued to deal exclusively in extravagances, flinging intricacies and colossi down aeons of emptiness, heaping profusions on profligacies with ever-fresh vigor. The whole show has been on fire from the word go. I…” quote by Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f62/annie-dillard-509_creation_after-the-one-extravagant-gesture-of-cre_850505.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f62/annie-dillard-509_creation_after-the-one-extravagant-gesture-of-cre_850505.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f62/annie-dillard-509_creation_after-the-one-extravagant-gesture-of-cre_850505.jpg) > “After the one extravagant gesture of creation in the first place, the universe has continued to deal exclusively in extravagances, flinging intricacies and colossi down aeons of emptiness, heaping profusions on profligacies with ever-fresh vigor. The whole show has been on fire from the word go. 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](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The universe is a constant display of extravagant, chaotic energy, where fire symbolizes relentless creation and destruction. **In simple terms:** Life is a vivid, fiery spectacle. Key Takeaway Embrace the awe and chaos of existence. Themes nature existence chaos Mood wonderful intense Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - stargazing - creative writing - philosophical contemplation - artistic expression Key Concepts cosmology metaphor entropy Questions to Reflect On - How do you find peace amid constant change? - What does fire represent in your personal journey? A Different Perspective The metaphor may overwhelm those seeking calm or order. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Creation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creation/) [Emptiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/emptiness/) [Extravagance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extravagance/) [Fire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fire/) [First place](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/first-place/) [Gestures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gestures/) [Universe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/universe/) [Vigor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vigor/) [Water](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/water/) [Whole world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whole-world/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [“The universe has continued to deal in extravagances, flinging intricacies and colossi down eons of emptiness, heaping profusions on profligacies with ever-fresh vigor. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/the-universe-has-continued-to-deal-in-extravagances-flinging/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/i-come-down-to-the-water-to-cool-my-eyes-but-everywhere-i-look-i-see/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [“At the time of Lewis and Clark, setting the prairies on fire was a well-known signal that meant, ‘Come down to the water.’ It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/at-the-time-of-lewis-and-clark-setting-the-prairies-on-fire-was-a/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [“The universe continued to jiggle, as was its wont.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gavin-oswald/the-universe-continued-to-jiggle-as-was-its-wont/) Gavin Oswald > [Greedy for the property of others, extravagant with his own](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/greedy-for-the-property-of-others-extravagant-with-his-own/) [Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/) > [He who is extravagant will quickly become poor; and poverty will enforce dependence, and invite corruption.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/he-who-is-extravagant-will-quickly-become-poor-and-poverty-will/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [Archetypes are universal, and, in subtle or extravagant ways, interchangeable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tanith-lee/archetypes-are-universal-and-in-subtle-or-extravagant-ways/) [Tanith Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tanith-lee/) > [The latter estimate is certainly an extravagant exaggeration](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helmut-schmid/the-latter-estimate-is-certainly-an-extravagant-exaggeration/) Helmut Schmid > [Extravagant love is never wasted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-goff/extravagant-love-is-never-wasted/) [Bob Goff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-goff/) > [Dry happiness is like dry bread. We eat, but we do not dine. I wish for the superfluous, for the useless, for the extravagant,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/dry-happiness-is-like-dry-bread-we-eat-but-we-do-not-dine-i-wish-for/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [The most extravagant thing I've ever bought is 95 tops all the same.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-martin/the-most-extravagant-thing-i-ve-ever-bought-is-95-tops-all-the-same/) [Chris Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-martin/) > [“Please sell $10,000 worth of stock — we have decided to lead a mad and extravagant life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-crosby/please-sell-10-000-worth-of-stock-we-have-decided-to-lead-a-mad-and/) [Harry Crosby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-crosby/) > [“I have often noticed that these things, which obsess me, neither bother nor impress other people even slightly. I am horribly apt to approach…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/i-have-often-noticed-that-these-things-which-obsess-me-neither-bother/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [Theirs is the mystery of continuous creation and all that providence implies: the uncertainty of vision, the horror of the fixed, the dissolution of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/theirs-is-the-mystery-of-continuous-creation-and-all-that-providence/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [Landscape consists in the multiple, overlapping intricacies and forms that exist in a given space at a moment in time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/landscape-consists-in-the-multiple-overlapping-intricacies-and-forms/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) ## More by Annie Dillard > [Like everyone in his right mind, I feared Santa Claus.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/like-everyone-in-his-right-mind-i-feared-santa-claus/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [“This is a spendthrift economy; though nothing is lost, all is spent.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/this-is-a-spendthrift-economy-though-nothing-is-lost-all-is-spent/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [The creatures I seek do not want to be seen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/the-creatures-i-seek-do-not-want-to-be-seen/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [Nothing moves a woman so deeply as the boyhood of the man she loves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/nothing-moves-a-woman-so-deeply-as-the-boyhood-of-the-man-she-loves/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [We live in all we seek. The hidden shows up in too-plain sight. It lives captive on the face of the obvious - the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/we-live-in-all-we-seek-the-hidden-shows-up-in-too-plain-sight-it/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [“...The mockingbird took a single step into the air and dropped. His wings were still folded against his sides as though he were singing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/the-mockingbird-took-a-single-step-into-the-air-and-dropped-his-wings/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [“Father had stretched out his long legs and was tilting back in his chair. Mother sat with her knees crossed, in blue slacks, smoking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/father-had-stretched-out-his-long-legs-and-was-tilting-back-in-his/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/i-am-a-frayed-and-nibbled-survivor-in-a-fallen-world-and-i-am-getting/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [It should surprise no one that the life of the writer - such as it is - is colorless to the point of sensory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/it-should-surprise-no-one-that-the-life-of-the-writer-such-as-it-is/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/it-is-madness-to-wear-ladies-straw-hats-and-velvet-hats-to-church-we/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/the-sense-impressions-of-one-celled-animals-are-not-edited-for-the/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/what-can-we-make-of-the-inexpressible-joy-of-children-it-is-a-kind-of/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/if-we-were-to-judge-nature-by-its-common-sense-or-likelihood-we/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [For writing a first draft requires from the writer a peculiar internal state which ordinary life does not induce. ... how to set yourself spinning?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/for-writing-a-first-draft-requires-from-the-writer-a-peculiar/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [I am a fugitive and a vagabond, a sojourner seeking signs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/i-am-a-fugitive-and-a-vagabond-a-sojourner-seeking-signs/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) [Explore all 509 Annie Dillard quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) ## More Creation quotes > [“am not suggesting that successes in academics, athletics, or vocation somehow stand outside God’s good plan. Learning and play are joys that God himself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-paul-jones/am-not-suggesting-that-successes-in-academics-athletics-or-vocation/) [Timothy Paul Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-paul-jones/) > [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [Let me tell you that atheism has never painted a masterpiece. Atheism has never dispelled fear. Atheism has never healed a disease; faith in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-hagee/let-me-tell-you-that-atheism-has-never-painted-a-masterpiece-atheism/) [John Hagee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-hagee/) > [Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this \[step by step, from humans to apes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/perhaps-no-order-of-mammals-presents-us-with-so-extraordinary-a/) [Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/) > [Like many other scientists who hold the Catholic faith, I see the Creator's plan and purpose fulfilled in our universe. I see a planet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-r-miller/like-many-other-scientists-who-hold-the-catholic-faith-i-see-the/) [Kenneth R. Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-r-miller/) > [And wheresoever, in his rich creation, Sweet music breathes--in wave, or bird, or soul-- 'Tis but the faint and far reverberation Of that great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-sargent-osgood/and-wheresoever-in-his-rich-creation-sweet-music-breathes-in-wave-or/) [Frances Sargent Osgood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-sargent-osgood/) > [I believe if there is a creator it will basically ask me two questions, how well did you enjoy my creation and what did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-victor-paskavich/i-believe-if-there-is-a-creator-it-will-basically-ask-me-two/) [Stanley Victor Paskavich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-victor-paskavich/) > [With no other choices open to us, we'd turned our gaze seaward. The oceans were our America: they reached farther than any prairie, untamed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carsten-jensen/with-no-other-choices-open-to-us-we-d-turned-our-gaze-seaward-the/) [Carsten Jensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carsten-jensen/) > [In the quiet moments of your day, what do you think and do? When you are with your Self and no one else, how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neale-donald-walsch/in-the-quiet-moments-of-your-day-what-do-you-think-and-do-when-you/) [Neale Donald Walsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neale-donald-walsch/) > [The creation lives as genesis beneath the visible surface of the work. All intelligent people see this after the fact, but only the creative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/the-creation-lives-as-genesis-beneath-the-visible-surface-of-the-work/) [Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/) > [When I was in my teens I had a series of intensely religious experiences. They deepened my sense of God as the creator of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-linzey/when-i-was-in-my-teens-i-had-a-series-of-intensely-religious/) [Andrew Linzey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-linzey/) > [If you are trying to live a life in accordance with the Bible, the concept and call to justice are inescapable. We do justice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-keller/if-you-are-trying-to-live-a-life-in-accordance-with-the-bible-the/) [Timothy Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-keller/) > [I think that storytelling and creation are very close to what the center of what magic is about. I think not just for me,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/i-think-that-storytelling-and-creation-are-very-close-to-what-the/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [To be part of the creation, I must act humbly. I'll take that over a goddess any day!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maureen-o-hara/to-be-part-of-the-creation-i-must-act-humbly-i-ll-take-that-over-a/) [Maureen O'Hara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maureen-o-hara/) > [The country of Iraq is somewhat of an artificial creation going back to colonial days. And so you have the Kurds and then the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-clapper/the-country-of-iraq-is-somewhat-of-an-artificial-creation-going-back/) [James Clapper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-clapper/) [Browse all 5,225 Creation quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creation/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "After the one extravagant gesture of creation in the first place, the universe has continued to deal exclusively in extravagances, flinging intricacies and colossi down aeons of emptiness, heaping profusions on profligacies with ever-fresh vigor. 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