Quotes By Author: Annie Dillard

“I like to be aware of a book as a piece of writing, and aware of its structure as a product of mind, and yet I want to be able to see the represented world through it. I admire artists who succeed in dividing my attention more or less evenly between the world of their books and the art of their books . . . so that a reader may study the work with pleasure as well as the world that it describes.”

“For writing a first draft requires from the writer a peculiar internal state which ordinary life does not induce. … how to set yourself spinning?”

“The secret is not to write about what you love best, but about what you, alone, love at all.”

“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?”

“Spend the afternoon, you can’t take it with you.”