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Annie Dillard

13 quotes

Annie Dillard is proof that you do not need celebrity to say something worth remembering. Their thinking spans from Age to Alone, revealing a mind that refused to stay in one lane. Browse 14 quotes by Annie Dillard that cover ground from Age, Alone, Time, Religion, and Nature. Perhaps their most recognizable line: "There is a muscular energy in sunlight corresponding to the spiritual energy of wind."

“It is ironic that the one thing that all religions recognize as separating us from our creator, our very self-consciousness, is also the one thing that divides us from our fellow creatures. It was a bitter birthday present from evolution.”

— Annie Dillard

Birthday

All Quotes by 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

Age

“I would like to learn, or remember, how to live.”

— Annie Dillard

Education

“As soon as beauty is sought not from religion and love, but for pleasure, it degrades the seeker.”

— Annie Dillard

Beauty

“Eskimo: 'If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?' Priest: 'No, not if you did not know.' Eskimo: 'Then why did you tell me?'”

— Annie Dillard

God

“Buddhism notes that it is always a mistake to think your soul can go it alone.”

— Annie Dillard

Alone

“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

Time

“There is a muscular energy in sunlight corresponding to the spiritual energy of wind.”

— Annie Dillard

Nature

“There is a certain age at which a child looks at you in all earnestness and delivers a long, pleased speech in all the true inflections of spoken English, but with not one recognizable syllable.”

— Annie Dillard

Age

“You can't test courage cautiously.”

— Annie Dillard

Courage

“It is ironic that the one thing that all religions recognize as separating us from our creator, our very self-consciousness, is also the one thing that divides us from our fellow creatures. It was a bitter birthday present from evolution.”

— Annie Dillard

Birthday

“The surest sign of age is loneliness.”

— Annie Dillard

Age

“Appealing workplaces are to be avoided. One wants a room with no view, so imagination can meet memory in the dark.”

— Annie Dillard

Imagination

“People love pretty much the same things best. A writer looking for subjects inquires not after what he loves best, but after what he alone loves at all.”

— Annie Dillard

Alone