Quotessence
Home / Books / Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters

Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters

Book by Annie Dillard · 4 quotes · Mind, Life, Sea

Filter quotes by topic

AllMindLifeSeaWorldMountainPlanetsSilenceStonesWantChildrenCultureDamageDepthDifficultEndsEternityFailingGroveHardHome

Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters Quotes

“It is difficult to undo our own damage, and to recall to our presence that which we have asked to leave. It is hard to desecrate a grove and change your mind. The very holy mountains are keeping mum. We doused the burning bush and cannot rekindle it; we are lighting matches in vain under every green tree.”

MindHardDifficultTreeHolyMountainGreenBurningVainDamageMumRecallsLightingChanging Your MindGroveGreen TreesBurning Bush
Book:Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters
Create image

“What have we been doing all these centuries but trying to call God back to the mountain, or, failing that, raise a peep out of anything that isn't us? What is the difference between a cathedral and a physics lab? Are not they both saying: Hello? We spy on whales and on interstellar radio objects; we starve ourselves and pray till we're blue.”

TryingDifferencesFailingCenturyObjectsPrayingMountainRaisesBlueRadioPhysicsHelloSpyWhalesLabsCathedralsInterstellarSaying Hello
Book:Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters
Create image

“The mountains are great stone bells; they clang together like nuns. Who shushed the stars? There are a thousand million galaxies easily seen in the Palomar reflector; collisions between and among them do, of course, occur. But these collisions are very long and silent slides. Billions of stars sift amont each other untouched, too distant even to be moved, heedless as always, hushed. The sea pronounces something, over and over, in a hoarse whisper; I cannot quite make it out. But God knows I have tried.”

KnowsLongTogetherCoursesStarsMillionsSeaThousandMountainStonesMovedSilentBillionsBellsGalaxyGod KnowsSlidesNunCollision
Book:Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters
Create image