Annie Dillard quotes - page 4

You are wrong if you think that you can in any way take the vision and tame it to the page. The page is jealous and tyrannical; the page is made of time and matter; the page always wins. (Annie Dillard)
He judged the instant and let go; he flung himself loose into the stars. View quote
Annie Dillard
The Pulitzer is more useful than meaningful. View quote
Annie Dillard
Does anything eat flowers. I couldn't recall having seen anything eat a flower are they nature's privileged pets. View quote
Annie Dillard
Many writers do little else but sit in small rooms recalling the real world. View quote
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? View quote
Annie Dillard
I had been chipping at the world idly, and had by accident uncovered vast and labyrinthine further worlds within it. View quote
Annie Dillard
Admire the world for never ending on you -- as you would an opponent, without taking your eyes away from him, or walking away. View quote
Annie Dillard
I think the dying pray at the last not please but thank you as a guest thanks his host at the door. View quote
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 the whole world sparks and flames. View quote
Annie Dillard
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour and with that one, is what we are doing. (Annie Dillard)
Books swept me away, this way and that, one after the other; I made endless vows according to their lights for I believed them. View quote
Annie Dillard
When I first read the words 'introvert' and 'extrovert' when I was 10, I thought I was both. View quote
Annie Dillard
If you're going to publish a book, you probably are going to make a fool of yourself. View quote
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 my share of eating too. View quote
Annie Dillard
The mind of the writer does indeed do something before it dies, and so does its owner, but I would be hard put to call it living. View quote
Annie Dillard
It makes more sense to write one big book - a novel or nonfiction narrative - than to write many stories or essays. Into a long, ambitious project you can fit or pour all you possess and learn. View quote
Annie Dillard
All my books started out as extravagant and ended up pure and plain. View quote
Annie Dillard
I wake up thinking: What am I reading? What will I read next? I'm terrified that I'll run out, that I will read through all I want to, and be forced to learn wildflowers at last, to keep awake. View quote
Annie Dillard
Buddhism notes that it is always a mistake to think your soul can go it alone. View quote
Annie Dillard
It's a little silly to finally learn how to write at this age. But I long ago realized I was secretly sincere. (Annie Dillard)
Last forever!' Who hasn't prayed that prayer? You were lucky to get it in the first place. The present is a freely given canvas. That it is constantly being ripped apart and washed downstream goes without saying. View quote
Annie Dillard
Caring passionately about something isn't against nature, and it isn't against human nature. It's what we're here to do. View quote
Annie Dillard
Outright predators, of course, I understand. I am among them. There is no denying that the feats of predators can be just as gruesome as those of the unlovely parasites: the swathing and sipping of trapped hummingbirds by barn spiders, the occasional killing and eating of monkeys by chimpanzees. If I were to eat as the delicate ladybug eats, I would go through in just nine days the entire population of Boys Town. Nevertheless, the most rapacious lurk and charge of any predator is not nearly so sinister as the silent hatching of barely visible, implanted eggs. With predators, at least you have a chance. View quote
Annie Dillard
Even such sophisticated mammals as the great predator cats occasionally eat their cubs. A mother cat will be observed licking the area around the umbilical cord of the helpless newborn. She licks, she licks, she licks until something snaps in her brain, and she begins eating, starting there, at the vulnerable belly. View quote
Annie Dillard