I need to know in which of Annie Dillard's published work (book or
otherwise) that quote appeared. I'll need a citation

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Request for Question Clarification by justaskscott-ga on 03 Aug 2004 07:41 PDT

There seems to be only one original source on the Web attributing this
quote to Annie Dillard.  I suspect it may be a rephrasing of this
quote: "Cruelty is a mystery, and the waste of pain. ..."

"16720" (The Columbia World of Quotations, 1996)
Bartleby.com
http://www1.bartleby.com/66/20/16720.html

If you are satisfied with this quote, please let me know so that I can
post it as an answer.

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 03 Aug 2004 07:46 PDT

The following lines are taken from page 7 of Annie Dillard's book
"Pilgrim at Tinker Creek":

"Cruelty is a mystery, and the waste of pain. But if we describe a
world to compass these things, a world that is a long, brute game,
then we bump against another mystery: the inrush of power and light,
the canary that sings on the skull. Unless all ages and races of men
have been deluded by the same mass hypnotist (who?), there seems to be
such a thing as beauty, a grace wholly gratuitous."

ENGLISH WRITING CENTER
http://english.cua.edu/wc/Handouts/DOCmla.cfm

Does this safisfy your question?

regards;
tutuzdad-ga

Dear wawa734-ga;

Since you are satisfied that this seems to answer your question I am
reposting here to officially close your question for you. I appreciate
you coming back to keep us informed (some people don?t).

The following lines are taken from page 7 of Annie Dillard's book
"Pilgrim at Tinker Creek":

"Cruelty is a mystery, and the waste of pain. But if we describe a
world to compass these things, a world that is a long, brute game,
then we bump against another mystery: the inrush of power and light,
the canary that sings on the skull. Unless all ages and races of men
have been deluded by the same mass hypnotist (who?), there seems to be
such a thing as beauty, a grace wholly gratuitous."

ENGLISH WRITING CENTER
http://english.cua.edu/wc/Handouts/DOCmla.cfm

I hope you find that my research exceeds your expectations. If you
have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating
and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again
in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



INFORMATION SOURCES

ENGLISH WRITING CENTER
http://english.cua.edu/wc/Handouts/DOCmla.cfm



SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

To find my answer I used the name ?Annie Dillard? with:

?Pain is a terrible thing to waste"

?Pain is a terrible thing"

Terrible 

Pain

Waste

Thanks for your answer. Seems like it's as good an answer as I'll get.
justaskscott provided the same answer as a comment five minutes before
you. Maybe in fairness should be rewarded, too. Don't quite know how
to handle this. Any suggestions?
Thanks again.

"Pain is a terrible thing to waste" doesn't sound quite literary
enough for an Annie Dillard quote.  I agree with the other commentors
that it's probably a rephrasing of the passage cited above.

Thank you so much for your interest in my query and your response. I
am asking this question for a friend and I'll have to run your
information by her and see if it satisfies her interest. You may well
be correct about "Pain is a terrible thing to waste" being a
rephrasing of the text from poage 7 of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.

Thank you justaskscott, and also tutuzdad and pafalafa for your comments.

I'll get back to you ASAP.

I look forward to it.

tutuzdad-ga

My friend is on vacation and I have been unable to contact her to see
if she is satisfied that the quote she inquired about may be a
rephrasing of the Pilgrim at Tinker Creek passage. I haven't forgotten
you. Will get back to you next week. Thank you for your patience.

Thanks. I'll still be here when you get back.

tutuzdad-ga

Although I still haven't heard from my friend, I hereby deem this
question satisfactorily answered. Especially since there have been no
additional comments suggesting there may be a better answer out there
somewhere.

Thanks very much for your effort.

I assumed you were referring to me in your comment since we seemed to
have a running dialogue going there. There is no provision to
compensate more than one researcher at a time unless one decides to
open a new question and award a second researcher as well.

Thanks for the high rating. I look forward to next time.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga