How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
When it comes again, the light, you hold your breath, and if it stays you forget about it until it goes again. (1.24)
What Dillard's talking about here is presence. To be fully engaged with awe is to forget everything but the moment.
Quote #2
But I don't see what the specialist sees, and so I cut myself off, not only from the total picture, but from the various forms of happiness. (2.3)
Dillard makes the argument that lack of education about a thing means the inability to fully appreciate it. On the other hand, there's the old cliché that ignorance is bliss. Can both be true?
Quote #3
So many things have been shown me on these banks, so much light has illumined me by reflection here where the water comes down, that I can hardly believe that this grace never flags, that the pouring from ever-renewable sources is endless, impartial, and free. (4.33)
This is kind of like the idea that parents always have more love to go around; just because you totally love your firstborn doesn't mean you can't love your second just as much. (Younger siblings, take note.)