I woke at intervals until . . . the intervals of waking tipped the scales, and I was more often awake than not. Annie Dillard More Quotes by Annie Dillard More Quotes From Annie Dillard Nothing moves a woman so deeply as the boyhood of the man she loves. Annie Dillard boyhood men moving Divinity is not playful. The universe was not made in jest but in solemn incomprehensibl e earnest. By a power that is unfathomably secret, and holy, and fleet. There is nothing to be done about it, but ignore it, or see. Annie Dillard divinity done secret The world knew you before you knew the world. Annie Dillard world The way we live our days, is the way we live our lives. Annie Dillard self-help life way I worked so hard all my life, and all I want to do now is read. Annie Dillard hard want You can't test courage cautiously. Annie Dillard insperational bravery courage Even if things are as bad as they could possible be, and as meaningless, then matters of truth are themselves indifferent; we may as well please our sensibilities and, with as much spirit as we can muster, go out with a buck and a wing. Annie Dillard bucks may wings A schedule is a mock-up of reason and order - willed, faked, and so brought into being. Annie Dillard schedules reason order Like any child, I slid into myself perfectly fitted, as a diver meets her reflection in a pool. Her fingertips enter the fingertips on the water, her wrists slide up her arms. The diver wraps herself in her reflection wholly, sealing it at the toes, and wears it as she climbs rising from the pool, and ever after. Annie Dillard reflection water children What have we been doing all these centuries but trying to call God back to the mountain, or, failing that, raise a peep out of anything that isn't us? What is the difference between a cathedral and a physics lab? Are not they both saying: Hello? We spy on whales and on interstellar radio objects; we starve ourselves and pray till we're blue. Annie Dillard whales differences blue The real and proper question is: why is it beautiful? Annie Dillard chimneys real beautiful Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. Annie Dillard lost giving Art is like an ill-trained Labrador retriever that drags you out into traffic. Annie Dillard labradors traffic art Our life is a faint tracing on the surface of mystery. Annie Dillard rest-in-peace mystery life Spend the afternoon. You can't take it with you. Annie Dillard time inspiring inspirational The sea pronounces something, over and over, in a hoarse whisper; I cannot quite make it out. Annie Dillard ocean sea beach Skin was earth; it was soil. I could see, even on my own skin, the joined trapezoids of dust specks God had wetted and stuck with his spit the morning he made Adam from dirt. Now, all these generations later, we people could still see on our skin the inherited prints of the dust specks of Eden. Annie Dillard dust eden morning I break up through the skin of awareness a thousand times a day, as dolphins burst through seas, and dive again, and rise, and dive. Annie Dillard dolphins skins sea There is a muscular energy in sunlight corresponding to the spiritual energy of wind. Annie Dillard spiritual air clouds If even rock was interesting, if even this ugliness was worth whole shelves at the library, required sophisticated tools to study, and inspired grown men to crack mountains and saw crystals--then what wasn't? Annie Dillard rocks men interesting
