The painter... does not fit the paints to the world. He most certainly does not fit the world to himself. He fits himself to the paint. The self is the servant who bears the paintbox and its inherited contents.

Quote by Annie Dillard

Topics: Annie Dillard Quotes

Aim for the chopping block. If you aim for the wood, you will have nothing....

Aim for the chopping block. If you aim for the wood, you will have nothing....

Eskimo: If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?...

Eskimo: If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?...

Every book has an intrinsic impossibility, which its writer discovers as soon as his first...

Every book has an intrinsic impossibility, which its writer discovers as soon as his first...

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

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

The writer studies literature, not the world. He is careful of what he reads, for...

The writer studies literature, not the world. He is careful of what he reads, for...

The dedicated life is worth living. You must give with your whole heart.

The dedicated life is worth living. You must give with your whole heart.

People love pretty much the same things best. A writer looking for subject inquires not...

People love pretty much the same things best. A writer looking for subject inquires not...

Crystals grew inside rock like arithmetic flowers. They lengthened and spread, added plane to plane...

Crystals grew inside rock like arithmetic flowers. They lengthened and spread, added plane to plane...

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.

As soon as beauty is sought not from religion and love, but for pleasure, it...

As soon as beauty is sought not from religion and love, but for pleasure, it...

Appealing workplaces are to be avoided. One wants a room with no view, so imagination...

Appealing workplaces are to be avoided. One wants a room with no view, so imagination...

Every book has an intrinsic impossibility, which its writer discovers as soon as his first...

Every book has an intrinsic impossibility, which its writer discovers as soon as his first...

As a life's work, I would remember everything - everything, against loss. I would go...

As a life's work, I would remember everything - everything, against loss. I would go...

There is no shortage of good days. It is good lives that are hard to...

There is no shortage of good days. It is good lives that are hard to...

It is ironic that the one thing that all religions recognize as separating us from...

It is ironic that the one thing that all religions recognize as separating us from...

You can't test courage cautiously.

You can't test courage cautiously.

An Inuit hunter asked the local missionary priest: If I did not know about God...

An Inuit hunter asked the local missionary priest: If I did not know about God...

The Christian resolution to find the world ugly and bad has made the world ugly...

The Christian resolution to find the world ugly and bad has made the world ugly...

All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other...

All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other...

The world is not a prison house but a kind of spiritual kindergarten where millions...

The world is not a prison house but a kind of spiritual kindergarten where millions...