If you are seeking the best Annie Dillard quotes to inspire mindful awareness and a deeper appreciation of life, you have come to the right place. Annie Dillard’s writings are renowned for their thoughtful observation and poetic insight, reminding us to slow down and notice the world around us. This collection of the best Annie Dillard quotes offers thought-provoking perspectives on nature, creativity, and the art of paying attention. Whether you are a longtime fan or new to her work, these memorable lines will encourage you to live more observantly and savor each moment with intention.
👁️ On Observing the World
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”
— Annie Dillard
“The dedicated life is the life worth living.”
— Annie Dillard
“There is no such thing as an artist: there is only the world, lit or unlit as the light allows.”
— Annie Dillard
“We are here to witness the creation and to abet it.”
— Annie Dillard
“Nature is, above all, profligate.”
— Annie Dillard
“What you see is what you get.”
— Annie Dillard
“The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand.”
— Annie Dillard
“Beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them.”
— Annie Dillard
“If you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then you have won life.”
— Annie Dillard
“We are on the dock, watching a few moments’ phenomenon as a brown body is neither wave nor ship.”
— Annie Dillard
🌱 On Paying Attention
“The secret of seeing is, then, the pearl of great price.”
— Annie Dillard
“If I can’t see these minutiae, is it because I have not time to see them?”
— Annie Dillard
“Nothing could go on living unless some things be lost.”
— Annie Dillard
“You see the world when you notice tiny phenomena.”
— Annie Dillard
“I cannot cause light; the most I can do is try to put myself in the path of its beam.”
— Annie Dillard
“There is always an enormous temptation in all of life to diddle around making itsy-bitsy friends and meals and journeys for itsy-bitsy years on end.”
— Annie Dillard
“We are most deeply asleep at the switch when we fancy we control any switches at all.”
— Annie Dillard
“Spend the afternoon. You can’t take it with you.”
— Annie Dillard
“Yes, it is true: I am observant.”
— Annie Dillard
“Seeing is of course very much a matter of verbalization.”
— Annie Dillard
🌟 On Wonder & Awe
“We wake, if we ever wake at all, to mystery.”
— Annie Dillard
“The world is full of creatures that for some reason seem magical to us.”
— Annie Dillard
“I had been my whole life a bell, and never knew it until at that moment I was lifted and struck.”
— Annie Dillard
“The whole world sparkles as if it were covered with diamonds and mica.”
— Annie Dillard
“It is everlastingly funny that the proud, metaphysically ambitious, clamorous mind will hush if you give it an egg.”
— Annie Dillard
“We are here to abet the creation, to witness it, to notice each thing so each thing gets noticed.”
— Annie Dillard
“The world is wider than the narrow dream we have carved out for ourselves.”
— Annie Dillard
“One does not expect to be lifted out of the little ruts of self, but it can happen at any moment.”
— Annie Dillard
“We are here to be excited from smallness to greatness by seeing the surprising and marvelous.”
— Annie Dillard
“I alternate between thinking of the planet as home—dear and familiar—and as a slightly strange ball.”
— Annie Dillard
⌛ On Time & Presence
“You do not have to sit outside in the dark. If, however, you want to look at the stars, you will find that darkness is necessary.”
— Annie Dillard
“Time itself is the season that causes all things to pass.”
— Annie Dillard
“Each day is a god, each day is a god, and holiness holds forth in time.”
— Annie Dillard
“Write as if you were dying.”
— Annie Dillard
“You can’t test courage cautiously.”
— Annie Dillard
“It is not the world that is mysterious, but the way in which we are present in it.”
— Annie Dillard
“We are here on the planet only once, and might as well get a feel for the place.”
— Annie Dillard
“All those things for which we have no words are lost.”
— Annie Dillard
“One day it occurs to you that you must not need your life at all, for you are willing to give it away any minute.”
— Annie Dillard
“For the time being, let us be content with what we have.”
— Annie Dillard
🖊️ On Writing & Creativity
“One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time.”
— Annie Dillard
“The impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive.”
— Annie Dillard
“Write as if you were dying. At the same time, assume you write for an audience consisting solely of terminal patients.”
— Annie Dillard
“Why are we reading, if not in hope of beauty laid bare, life heightened and its deepest mystery probed?”
— Annie Dillard
“I cannot remember a single time when a writer has made a difference for me by specifically saying, ‘Pay attention.'”
— Annie Dillard
“Push it. Examine all things intensely and relentlessly.”
— Annie Dillard
“The writer studies literature, not the world.”
— 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
“A work in progress quickly becomes feral.”
— Annie Dillard
“The page, the page, that eternal blankness.”
— Annie Dillard
We hope this collection of the best Annie Dillard quotes encourages you to pay close attention to the ordinary and extraordinary moments in your daily life. Whether you’re looking for wisdom to slow down or inspiration to see the world with fresh eyes, Dillard’s words offer us the gift of mindful awareness. Let these quotes fuel your own observant living, helping you find meaning and wonder in each passing day.
About Annie Dillard
Annie Dillard is an acclaimed American author, poet, and essayist known for her keen observations of the natural world and the profound insights she draws from everyday experiences. Her Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,” remains a classic of creative nonfiction, blending sharp perception with thought-provoking questions about nature, faith, and humanity’s place in the world. Dillard’s lyrical style and meditative tone invite readers to look deeply—whether into a landscape, a fleeting moment, or the mystery of existence itself. Through her essays and novels, she inspires countless people to embrace curiosity and live with greater attentiveness.
