--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: As a child I read hoping to learn…" description: "\"“As a child I read hoping to learn everything, so I could be like my father. I hoped to combine my father's grasp of information and reasoning with my ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae2/annie-dillard-509_books_as-a-child-i-read-hoping-to-learn-everyt_2121471.jpg" --- # As a child I read hoping to learn everything, so I could… ![“As a child I read hoping to learn everything, so I could be like my father. I hoped to combine my father's grasp of information and reasoning with my mother's will and vitality. But the books were leading me away. They would propel me right out of Pittsburgh altogether, so I could fashion a life…” quote by Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae2/annie-dillard-509_books_as-a-child-i-read-hoping-to-learn-everyt_2121471.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae2/annie-dillard-509_books_as-a-child-i-read-hoping-to-learn-everyt_2121471.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae2/annie-dillard-509_books_as-a-child-i-read-hoping-to-learn-everyt_2121471.jpg) > ““As a child I read hoping to learn everything, so I could be like my father. I hoped to combine my father's grasp of information and reasoning with my mother's will and vitality. But the books were leading me away. They would propel me right out of Pittsburgh altogether, so I could fashion a life among books somewhere else. So the Midwest nourishes us . . . and presents us with the spectacle of a land and a people completed and certain. And so we run to our bedrooms and read in a fever, and love the big hardwood trees outside the windows, and the terrible Midwest summers, and the terrible Midwest winters, and the forested river valleys, with the blue Appalachian Mountains to the east of us and the broad great plains to the west. And so we leave it sorrowfully, having grown strong and restless by opposing with all our will and mind and muscle its simple, loving, single will for us: that we stay, that we stay and find a place among its familiar possibilities.”” [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 narrator reflects on how books opened horizons beyond the Midwest, yet the region’s simple, enduring nature remains a compelling anchor. **In simple terms:** Books expand horizons, but home’s simple love holds us. Key Takeaway Balance curiosity with appreciation for home. Themes home growth restlessness place nature Mood nostalgic reflective conflicted Type personal philosophical When to use this quote - college student - writer - midwestern resident - travel planning Key Concepts identity longing regionalism Questions to Reflect On - How do you reconcile ambition with belonging? - What does “simple, loving will” mean to you? A Different Perspective The pull of distant knowledge can cause alienation from one’s roots. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Books Midwest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books-midwest-4330180/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Midwest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/midwest/) [Midwest Nourishes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/midwest-nourishes-579811/) [Midwest Summers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/midwest-summers-579812/) [Parenting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parenting/) [Read Hoping](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/read-hoping-4330181/) [Simple Loving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/simple-loving/) [Somewhere else](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/somewhere-else/) ## Related quotes > [ So the Midwest nourishes us \[...\] and presents us with the spectacle of a land and a people completed and certain. 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Winning is also very simple but living your life in a SIMPLE way is DIFFICULT.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/living-is-simple-loving-is-simple-laughing-is-simple-winning-is-also/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Most things in my life are anything but simple--but loving you is. I just do.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-giovanni/most-things-in-my-life-are-anything-but-simple-but-loving-you-is-i/) [Cassandra Giovanni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-giovanni/) > [“It was really a very simple thing, after all,—it was only that he had lived near a kind and gentle heart, and had been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-hodgson-burnett/it-was-really-a-very-simple-thing-after-all-it-was-only-that-he-had/) [Frances Hodgson Burnett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-hodgson-burnett/) > [There was a good deal of laughing and kissing and explaining, in the simple, loving fashion which makes these home-festivals so pleasant at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/there-was-a-good-deal-of-laughing-and-kissing-and-explaining-in-the-2/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) > [So many use dad's name, saying 'Johnny Cash would not like this' or 'Johnny Cash would do this' or 'Johnny Cash would vote for...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carter-cash/so-many-use-dad-s-name-saying-johnny-cash-would-not-like-this-or/) [John Carter Cash](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carter-cash/) > [“There was a good deal of laughing, and kissing, and explaining, in the simple, loving fashion which makes these home festivals so pleasant at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/there-was-a-good-deal-of-laughing-and-kissing-and-explaining-in-the/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) > [You might think I deserved a better person than you. But I think I deserved a simple & loving person as you. I love you](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/buyuk/you-might-think-i-deserved-a-better-person-than-you-but-i-think-i/) [Buyuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/buyuk/) > [I did a film when I was about 30; it's a coming of age story called 'Gas Food Lodging,' and I'm so proud of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-knepper/i-did-a-film-when-i-was-about-30-it-s-a-coming-of-age-story-called/) [Robert Knepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-knepper/) > [Being from Orange County is in a lot ways very much like being from the Midwest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-pfeiffer/being-from-orange-county-is-in-a-lot-ways-very-much-like-being-from/) [Michelle Pfeiffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-pfeiffer/) > [The midwest is great because it hasn't been entirely claimed. There's more room to write about it; it's harder to write about New York,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gillian-flynn/the-midwest-is-great-because-it-hasn-t-been-entirely-claimed-there-s/) [Gillian Flynn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gillian-flynn/) ## 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. 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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. 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People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) [Christopher K. 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Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/) [Markus Herz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/markus-herz/) > [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) [Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“As a child I read hoping to learn everything, so I could be like my father. I hoped to combine my father's grasp of information and reasoning with my mother's will and vitality. But the books were leading me away. They would propel me right out of Pittsburgh altogether, so I could fashion a life among books somewhere else. So the Midwest nourishes us . . . and presents us with the spectacle of a land and a people completed and certain. And so we run to our bedrooms and read in a fever, and love the big hardwood trees outside the windows, and the terrible Midwest summers, and the terrible Midwest winters, and the forested river valleys, with the blue Appalachian Mountains to the east of us and the broad great plains to the west. 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