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.

Quote by Annie Dillard

Topics: Annie Dillard Quotes

Cruelty is a mystery and a waste of pain

Cruelty is a mystery and a waste of pain

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...

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...

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...

The painter... does not fit the paints to the world. He most certainly does not...

The painter... does not fit the paints to the world. He most certainly does not...

Spend the afternoon. You can't take it with you.

Spend the afternoon. You can't take it with you.

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....

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.

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 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...

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...

A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It...

A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It...

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...

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...

Your work is to keep cranking the flywheel that turns the gears that spin the...

Your work is to keep cranking the flywheel that turns the gears that spin the...

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?...

Were the purportings of the Bible to be a revelation false, it would still be...

Were the purportings of the Bible to be a revelation false, it would still be...

The tendency to turn human judgments into divine commands makes religion one of the most...

The tendency to turn human judgments into divine commands makes religion one of the most...

Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being...

Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being...