When you write, you lay out a line of words. Annie Dillard More Quotes by Annie Dillard More Quotes From Annie Dillard The universe is illusion merely, not one speck of it real, and we are not only its victims, falling always into or smashed by a planet slung by the sun-but also its captives, bound by the mineral-made ropes of our senses. Annie Dillard roperealfall There is neither a proportional relationship, nor an inverse one, between a writer’s estimation of a work in progress & its actual quality. The feeling that the work is magnificent, & the feeling that it is abominable, are both mosquitoes to be repelled, ignored, or killed, but not indulged. Annie Dillard progressqualityfeelings He is careful of what he reads, for that is what he will write. He is careful of what he learns, for that is what he will know. Annie Dillard carefulknowswriting I do not so much write a book as sit up with it, as a dying friend. I hold its hand and hope it will get better. Annie Dillard writingbookhands Crystals grew inside rock like arithmetic flowers. They lengthened and spread, added plane to plane in an awed and perfect obedience to an absolute geometry that even stones - maybe only the stones - understood. Annie Dillard rocksflowerfear 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 schedulestimehands At its best, the sensation of writing is that of any unmerited grace. It is handed to you, but only if you look for it. Annie Dillard gracewritinglooks I cannot imagine a sorrier pursuit than struggling for years to write a book that attempts to appeal to people who do not read in the first place. Annie Dillard strugglewritingbook The universe was not made in jest but in solemn incomprehensible earnest. Annie Dillard jestearnestmade The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside by a generous hand. But- and this is the point- who gets excited by a mere penny? But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted in pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days. Annie Dillard simplicityhealthyhands According to Inuit culture in Greenland, a person possesses six or seven souls. The souls take the form of tiny people scattered throughout the body. Annie Dillard inuitsoulpeople Write about winter in the summer. Annie Dillard summerwritingwinter I would like to learn, or remember, how to live. Annie Dillard educationremember Aim for the chopping block. If you aim for the wood, you will have nothing. Aim past the wood, aim through the wood; aim for the chopping block. Annie Dillard woodsblockpast Out of a human population on earth of four and a half billion, perhaps twenty people can write a book in a year. Some people lift cars, too. Some people enter week-long sled-dog races, go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, fly planes through the Arc de Triomphe. Some people feel no pain in childbirth. Some people eat cars. There is no call to take human extremes as norms. Annie Dillard paindogbook Why are we reading, if not in hope of beauty laid bare, life heightened and its deepest mystery probed? Annie Dillard mysteryreadingifs Take a quick dip, relax with a schnapps and a sandwich, stretch out, have a smoke, take a nap or just rest, and then sit around and chat until three. Then I hunt some more until sundown, bathe again, put on white tie and tails to keep up appearances, eat a huge dinner, smoke a cigar and sleep like a log until the sun comes up again to redden the eastern sky. This is living…. Could it be more perfect? Annie Dillard whiteskysleep Why do we people in churches seem like cheerful, brainless tourists on a packaged tour of the Absolute? Annie Dillard cheerfulchurchpeople The reader's ear must adjust down from loud life to the subtle, imaginary sounds of the written word. An ordinary reader picking up a book can't yet hear a thing; it will take half an hour to pick up the writing's modulations, its ups and downs and louds and softs. Annie Dillard soundwritingbook I think it would be well, and proper, and obedient, and pure, to grasp your one necessity and not let it go, to dangle from it limp wherever it takes you. Annie Dillard positivelifethinking
