Annie Dillard Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old Annie Dillard quotes, Annie Dillard sayings, and Annie Dillard proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.'

The sea pronounces something, over and over, in a hoarse whisper; I cannot quite make it out. Annie Dillard
There is a muscular energy in sunlight corresponding to the spiritual energy of wind. Annie Dillard
The sea pronounces something, over and over, in a hoarse whisper; I cannot quite make it out. Annie Dillard
Buddhism notes that it is always a mistake to think your soul can go it alone. Annie Dillard
This hospital, like every other, is a hole in the universe through which holiness issues in blasts. It blows both ways, in and out of time. Annie Dillard
Geography is the key, the crucial accident of birth. A piece of protein could be a snail, a sea lion, or a systems analyst, but it had to start somewhere. This is not science; it is merely metaphor. And the landscape in which the protein "starts" shapes its end as surely as bowls shape water. Annie Dillard
The irrational haunts the metaphysical. Annie Dillard
Appealing workplaces are to be avoided. One wants a room with no view, so imagination can meet memory in the dark. Annie Dillard
Push it. Examine all things intensely and relentlessly. Annie Dillard
Private life, book life, took place where words met imagination without passing through the world. Annie Dillard
Make connections; let rip; and dance where you can. Annie Dillard
There is no such thing as an artist - only the world, lit or unlit, as the world allows. Annie Dillard
[Insects] are not only cold-blooded, and green- and yellow-blooded, but are also cased in a clacking horn. They have rigid eyes and brains strung down their backs. But they make up the bulk of our comrades-at-life, so I look to them for a glimmer of companionship. Annie Dillard
We are here to witness the creation and to abet it. Annie Dillard
When you write, you lay out a line of words. Soon you find yourself deep in new territory. 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
It was less like seeing than like being for the first time seen, knocked breathless by a powerful glance. Annie Dillard
Innocence is not the prerogative of infants and puppies, and far less of mountains and fixed stars, which have no prerogatives at all. It is not lost to us; the world is a better place than that. Annie Dillard
What I call innocence is the spirit’s unselfconscious state at any moment of pure devotion to any object. Annie Dillard
A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time. Annie Dillard
Our life seems cursed to be a wiggle merely, and a wandering without end. Annie Dillard
In nature, improbabilities are the one stock in trade. The whole creation is one lunatic fringe. If creation had been left up to me, I'm sure I wouldn't have had the imagination or courage to do more than shape a single, reasonably sized atom, smooth as a snowball, and let it go at that. Annie Dillard