The surest sign of age is loneliness. — Annie Dillard

Each age, it is found, must write its own books; or rather, each generation for the next succeeding. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is with an old love as it is with old age a man lives to all the miseries, but is dead to all the pleasures. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Old age is not a matter for sorrow. It is matter for thanks if we have left our work done behind us. — Thomas Carlyle
As soon as beauty is sought not from religion and love, but for pleasure, it degrades the seeker. — Annie Dillard
The writer studies literature, not the world. He is careful of what he reads, for that is what he will write. — Annie Dillard
As a life's work, I would remember everything - everything, against loss. I would go through life like a plankton net. — Annie Dillard