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
You cant test courage cautiously. – Annie Dillard
Its a little silly to finally learn how to write at this age. But I long ago realized I was secretly sincere. – 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
Appealing workplaces are to be avoided. One wants a room with no view, so imagination can meet memory in the dark. – Annie Dillard
I would like to learn, or remember, how to live. – Annie Dillard
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
As soon as beauty is sought not from religion and love, but for pleasure, it degrades the seeker. – Annie Dillard
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
Buddhism notes that it is always a mistake to think your soul can go it alone. – Annie Dillard
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
The surest sign of age is loneliness. – Annie Dillard
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