--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I am a fugitive and a vagabond, a…" description: "\"I am a fugitive and a vagabond, a sojourner seeking signs.\" — Annie Dillard" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/64e/annie-dillard-509_fugitive_i-am-a-fugitive-and-a-vagabond-a-sojourn_71815.jpg" --- # I am a fugitive and a vagabond, a sojourner seeking signs. ![“I am a fugitive and a vagabond, a sojourner seeking signs.” quote by Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/64e/annie-dillard-509_fugitive_i-am-a-fugitive-and-a-vagabond-a-sojourn_71815.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/64e/annie-dillard-509_fugitive_i-am-a-fugitive-and-a-vagabond-a-sojourn_71815.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/64e/annie-dillard-509_fugitive_i-am-a-fugitive-and-a-vagabond-a-sojourn_71815.jpg) > “I am a fugitive and a vagabond, a sojourner seeking signs.” [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 speaker describes a restless, wandering existence, searching for meaning through external signs. **In simple terms:** Restless search for meaning Key Takeaway Wanderer seeks guidance Themes Identity Journey Search Spirituality Freedom Mood Reflective Melancholic Hopeful Type Philosophical Personal When to use this quote - Traveling alone - Mid‑life crisis - Creative block - Spiritual quest - Exploring new cultures Key Concepts Self‑definition Sign‑seeking Nomadism Practical Applications - Writing memoirs - Designing travel experiences Questions to Reflect On - What signs do you look for when feeling lost? - How does wandering shape your sense of self? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Fugitive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fugitive/) [Sojourners](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sojourners/) [Vagabonds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vagabonds/) ## Related quotes > [I alternate between thinking of the planet as home - dear and familiar stone hearth and garden - and as a hard land of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/i-alternate-between-thinking-of-the-planet-as-home-dear-and-familiar/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [I'm washed, I'm forgiven, I'm whole, and I'm healed. I'm cleansed and I'm glory bound. I am only a sojourner on the earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/myles-munroe/i-m-washed-i-m-forgiven-i-m-whole-and-i-m-healed-i-m-cleansed-and-i-m/) [Myles Munroe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/myles-munroe/) > [Kindness and courage can repair time's faults, And serving him breeds patience and courtesy In us, light sojourners and passing subjects.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-muir/kindness-and-courage-can-repair-time-s-faults-and-serving-him-breeds/) [Edwin Muir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-muir/) > [When I enter a library, when I enter the world of books, I feel the ghosts of the past on my shoulders urging me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-paretsky/when-i-enter-a-library-when-i-enter-the-world-of-books-i-feel-the/) [Sara Paretsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-paretsky/) > [Grigsby's marvelous exploration-a deep, wide, and beautiful inquiry into Sojourner Truth's use of technology-features more of her photographs than have ever been collected before.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nell-irvin-painter/grigsby-s-marvelous-exploration-a-deep-wide-and-beautiful-inquiry/) [Nell Irvin Painter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nell-irvin-painter/) > [We're all travelers, all sojourners.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-lucado/we-re-all-travelers-all-sojourners/) [Max Lucado](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-lucado/) > [When I left the house of bondage I left everything behind. I wasn't going to keep nothing of Egypt on me, an' so I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sojourner-truth/when-i-left-the-house-of-bondage-i-left-everything-behind-i-wasn-t/) [Sojourner Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sojourner-truth/) > [Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sojourner-truth/obliged-to-you-for-hearing-me-and-now-old-sojourner-ain-t-got-nothing/) [Sojourner Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sojourner-truth/) > [I’m washed, I’m forgiven, I’m whole, and I’m healed. I’m cleansed and I’m glory bound. I am only a sojourner on the earth. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/myles-munroe/i-m-washed-i-m-forgiven-i-m-whole-and-i-m-healed-i-m-cleansed-and-i-m-2/) [Myles Munroe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/myles-munroe/) > [“We are not here as settlers, but rather as observers and sojourners. In our eyes, everything looks permanent, as though they would last forever,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/we-are-not-here-as-settlers-but-rather-as-observers-and-sojourners-in/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. (1 Peter 2:11)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-chan/beloved-i-urge-you-as-sojourners-and-exiles-to-abstain-from-the/) [Francis Chan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-chan/) > [You cannot friend a hawk, they said, unless you are a hawk yourself, alone and only a sojourner in the land, without friends or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/you-cannot-friend-a-hawk-they-said-unless-you-are-a-hawk-yourself/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [Though I was excited about the Sojourner Truth play, it was not reassuring to think that my entire future might depend on the success…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ethel-waters/though-i-was-excited-about-the-sojourner-truth-play-it-was-not/) [Ethel Waters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ethel-waters/) > [I have crossed over on the backs of Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Madam C. J. Walker. Because of them I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oprah-winfrey/i-have-crossed-over-on-the-backs-of-sojourner-truth-harriet-tubman/) [Oprah Winfrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oprah-winfrey/) > [“They rode up the faint marks of the old trace where thousands of sojourners walking and riding both had crossed it and before them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulette-jiles/they-rode-up-the-faint-marks-of-the-old-trace-where-thousands-of/) [Paulette Jiles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulette-jiles/) ## 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 often think of the set pieces of liturgy as certain words which people have successfully addressed to God without their getting killed.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/i-often-think-of-the-set-pieces-of-liturgy-as-certain-words-which/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) [Explore all 509 Annie Dillard quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) ## More Fugitive quotes > [“The family landed in the Western Hemisphere in the person of Roger Blake Wolfe, who arrived with a price on his head.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-carlos-blake/the-family-landed-in-the-western-hemisphere-in-the-person-of-roger/) [James Carlos Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-carlos-blake/) > [Everyone seems to assume that the unscrupulous parts of journalism will be the frivolous or jocular parts. This is against all ethical experience. Jokes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/everyone-seems-to-assume-that-the-unscrupulous-parts-of-journalism/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Before the start of the 2000 season, 'C.S.I.' wasn't supposed to be the hit. We all thought it would be 'The Fugitive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-moonves/before-the-start-of-the-2000-season-c-s-i-wasn-t-supposed-to-be-the/) [Leslie Moonves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-moonves/) > [Passing beauties are only the fugitive reflections of the eternal. All beauty alters and all life melts away; in short, everything passes with marvelous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliphas-levi/passing-beauties-are-only-the-fugitive-reflections-of-the-eternal-all/) [Eliphas Levi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliphas-levi/) > [Memory, with its fugitive adjustments, is the merciful veil to the grim enactments of the first law. It hides the anguish in the human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stacy-aumonier/memory-with-its-fugitive-adjustments-is-the-merciful-veil-to-the-grim/) [Stacy Aumonier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stacy-aumonier/) > [“There was no question that Jorge 'Billy' Nayor liked to get high; he just didn't think of himself as a drug dealer per se.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinosaur-in-the-park-jorge-nayor/there-was-no-question-that-jorge-billy-nayor-liked-to-get-high-he/) Dinosaur in the Park Jorge Nayor > [You see, I have only such a fugitive awareness of things around me that I always feel they were once real and are now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/you-see-i-have-only-such-a-fugitive-awareness-of-things-around-me/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) > [You know, back in the 1950s and '60s, when J. Edgar Hoover was making the FBI the respected organization it used to be, oftentimes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howie-carr/you-know-back-in-the-1950s-and-60s-when-j-edgar-hoover-was-making-the/) [Howie Carr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howie-carr/) > [There is no reality on this earth except religion and the power of love; all the rest is even more fugitive than life itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madame-de-stael/there-is-no-reality-on-this-earth-except-religion-and-the-power-of/) [Madame de Stael](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madame-de-stael/) > [Perfect Scepticismeis a disease incurable, and a thing rather to be pitied or laughed at, then seriously opposed. For when aman is so fugitive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-more/perfect-scepticismeis-a-disease-incurable-and-a-thing-rather-to-be/) Henry More > [Some movies run off the rails. This one is like the train crash in The Fugitive. I watched it in mounting gloom, realizing I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ebert/some-movies-run-off-the-rails-this-one-is-like-the-train-crash-in-the/) [Roger Ebert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ebert/) > [Let us enjoy the fugitive hour. Man has no harbor, time has no shore; it rushes on, and carries us with it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alphonse-de-lamartine/let-us-enjoy-the-fugitive-hour-man-has-no-harbor-time-has-no-shore-it/) [Alphonse de Lamartine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alphonse-de-lamartine/) > [No offense to Iceland, but Latin America is where the fugitive leaker Edward Snowden should settle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-kinzer/no-offense-to-iceland-but-latin-america-is-where-the-fugitive-leaker/) [Stephen Kinzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-kinzer/) > [Ah! what is human life? How, like the dial's tardy-moving shade, Day after day slides from us unperceiv'd! The cunning fugitive is swift by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-young/ah-what-is-human-life-how-like-the-dial-s-tardy-moving-shade-day/) [Edward Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-young/) > [They had parted as boys, and now life presented one of them with a fugitive and the other with a dying man. Both wondered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-ruiz-zafon/they-had-parted-as-boys-and-now-life-presented-one-of-them-with-a/) [Carlos Ruiz Zafon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-ruiz-zafon/) [Browse all 139 Fugitive quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fugitive/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I am a fugitive and a vagabond, a sojourner seeking signs.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Annie Dillard" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/i-am-a-fugitive-and-a-vagabond-a-sojourner-seeking-signs/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Fugitive" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/i-am-a-fugitive-and-a-vagabond-a-sojourner-seeking-signs/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/64e/annie-dillard-509_fugitive_i-am-a-fugitive-and-a-vagabond-a-sojourn_71815.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/64e/annie-dillard-509_fugitive_i-am-a-fugitive-and-a-vagabond-a-sojourn_71815.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/64e/annie-dillard-509_fugitive_i-am-a-fugitive-and-a-vagabond-a-sojourn_71815.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I am a fugitive and a vagabond, a sojourner seeking signs.” — Annie Dillard", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Annie Dillard", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I am a fugitive and a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/i-am-a-fugitive-and-a-vagabond-a-sojourner-seeking-signs/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/i-am-a-fugitive-and-a-vagabond-a-sojourner-seeking-signs/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```