Annie Dillard

“The surest sign of age is loneliness.”

“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.”

“It's a little silly to finally learn how to write at this age. But I long ago realized I was secretly sincere.”

“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.”

“Buddhism notes that it is always a mistake to think your soul can go it alone.”

“As soon as beauty is sought not from religion and love, but for pleasure, it degrades the seeker.”

“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.”

“I would like to learn, or remember, how to live.”

“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?'”

“Appealing workplaces are to be avoided. One wants a room with no view, so imagination can meet memory in the dark.”

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

“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.”