Billy Collins Quotes

When I write, I'm not trying to be funny. It's the way I look at the world.

Billy Collins

• World
• Trying
• Funny

• Previous
• Next

Quotes to Explore

• The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.

  

  Oscar Wilde
  • World
  • Books
  • Shame

• With the common Iranian threat bringing the Sunni Arab world and Israel closer together, an Israeli-Palestinian peace would go a long way in improving relations and rebuffing Iran's regional ambitions.

  

  Edgar Bronfman, Sr.
  • World
  • Long
  • Together

• My autobiography is a digressive illustration and exemplification of what race has meant in the world in the 19th and 20th centuries.

  

  W. E. B. Du Bois
  • World
  • Race
  • Autobiography

• I know how to make a record that commercial radio or Triple J will smash now... It's kind of hard to stay true and write what you would write if you didn't have that in your head. Because I know I can get way more airplay and get this much bigger... and that's what I'm trying to avoid doing. Trying to avoid the poisons of success.

  

  Flume
  • Trying
  • True
  • Success

• I don't really read 'business books,' and I didn't think 'The Paradox of Choice' was a business book. I'm very surprised and gratified that the business world thought it was one.

  

  Barry Schwartz
  • World
  • Business
  • Book

• But I think funny and talent will always win out; I mean, of course there are hurdles, but I think if you're funny you will get over all of that.

  

  Wanda Sykes
  • Funny
  • Win
  • Talent

• I want to work with the best coaches in the world.

  

  Eden Hazard
  • World
  • Work
  • Best

• You don't have to aim to be the best of everything, thinking that one day you're going to be the top of the world; I don't think it exists.

  

  Laura Mvula
  • World
  • Thinking
  • Day

• I got tired of books where the boy is a bit thick and the girl's very clever. Why does it have to such an opposition? Why can't they be like the girls and boys that I know personally, who are equally funny and equally cross? Who get things equally wrong and are equally brave? And make the same mistakes?

  

  Patrick Ness
  • Why
  • Girl
  • Funny

• When you tour with a band, you're just out there, and it's just you guys. That's your little universe. If you do a play, it's the same deal. That becomes your world, for the cast and crew.

  

  Katey Sagal
  • World
  • Universe
  • Band

• My director is usually aware of what works for me and what doesn't. For 'Srimanthudu,' I have to give full credit to director Koratala Sivagaru for handling my character the way he did.

  

  Mahesh Babu
  • Character
  • Way
  • Works

• The reduction in compassion that happens when we're all behind computer screens is not good for the world.

  

  Sam Altman
  • World
  • Good
  • Compassion

• I really enjoy myself in Norway. Because I had started losing confidence in my ability of what I do. But sometimes, man, you just get tired of fighting and trying to prove yourself.

  

  Ike Turner Ike & Tina Turner
  • Trying
  • Man
  • Myself

• I see that already in this present world I am exalted above measure by the Lord. And I was not worthy nor such a one as that he should grant this to me, since I know most surely that poverty and affliction become me better than delights and riches.

  

  Saint Patrick
  • World
  • Poverty
  • Riches

• The most beautiful thing in the world is, of course, the world itself.

  

  Wallace Stevens
  • World
  • Beautiful
  • inspirational

• Any real virtual reality enthusiast can look back at VR science fiction. It's not about playing games... 'The Matrix,' 'Snow Crash,' all this fiction was not about sitting in a room playing video games. It's about being in a parallel digital world that exists alongside our own, communicating with other people, playing with other people.

  

  Palmer Luckey
  • People
  • World
  • Real

• I'm not trying to be a celebrity, Justin Timberlake kinda guy.

  

  Calvin Harris
  • Trying
  • Guy
  • Celebrity

• My daddy was a World War I pilot, and I just wanted to be able to fly like he did.

  

  Forrest Bird
  • World
  • War
  • Fly

• The Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio comes from afar. Our land has a millennial history of emigrations: master masons, architects, builders, decorators, plasterers, artists from the world of building.

  

  Mario Botta
  • World
  • History
  • Architecture

• Lighting practically whenever I can when shooting period really helps with authenticity.

  

  Rachel Morrison
  • Period
  • Authenticity
  • Shooting

• What is a permanent loan but a mortgage upon the wealth and industry of the country? It is the only form of indebtedness, as experience has shown, by which heavy and durable encumbrance can be laid upon the community.

  

  John C. Calhoun
  • Country
  • Experience
  • Community

• Nice distinctions are troublesome. It is so much easier to say that a thing is black, than to discriminate the particular shade of brown, blue, or green, to which it really belongs. It is so much easier to make up your mind that your neighbour is good for nothing, than to enter into all the circumstances that would oblige you to modify that opinion.

  

  George Eliot
  • Up
  • Good
  • Mind

• There is a difference in just attending the temple and having a rich spiritual experience. The real blessings of the temple come as we enhance our temple experience. To do so, we must feel a spirit of reverence for the temple and a spirit of worship.

  

  L. Lionel Kendrick
  • Real
  • Experience
  • Spiritual

• When I write, I'm not trying to be funny. It's the way I look at the world.

  

  Billy Collins
  • World
  • Trying
  • Funny