Billy Collins Quotes

I don't think anybody reads a book of poetry front to back. Editors and reviewers only. I don't think anybody else does.

Billy Collins

• Book
• Poetry

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Quotes to Explore

• Hands down, the biggest thrill is to get a letter from a kid saying, I loved your book. Will you write me another one?

  

  Kate DiCamillo
  • Book
  • Hands
  • Saying

• The books that help you most are those which make you think that most. The hardest way of learning is that of easy reading; but a great book that comes from a great thinker is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth and beauty.

  

  Pablo Neruda
  • Great
  • Book
  • Truth

• My favorite book is 'Go Away Big Green Monster.' I wrote it for my granddaughter Adrian, who was in the third grade at the time.

  

  Ed Emberley
  • Time
  • Book
  • Green

• It takes me a long time writing books. It takes me about five years to write a book, and when I'm done, the last thing I want to do is to do it again.

  

  Naomi Klein
  • Time
  • Long
  • Writing

• For awhile after you quit Keats all other poetry seems to be only whistling or humming.

  

  F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • You
  • Poetry
  • Quit

• 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

• After 20 years, a million written words, and nine rejected novels, I finally landed a book contract.

  

  J. A. Konrath
  • Book
  • Words
  • Years

• I'm basically a know-it-all, and I'm writing a book about it. I want it to be called 'Danson on Water' and have me on the cover in this Christlike pose, standing on the water.

  

  Ted Danson
  • Want
  • Water
  • Basically

• I don't read horror, ever. When I was 15, I made the mistake of reading part of 'The Exorcist.' It was the first and last horror book I've ever opened.

  

  Dan Brown
  • Book
  • Reading
  • Mistake

• I like to believe, as a writer, that anybody who isn't a reader yet has just not found the right book.

  

  Gabrielle Zevin
  • Believe
  • Book
  • Right

• You have to understand that while I pre-plot the meta story of a given book, I often have no idea of what will happen on the next page, let alone the next chapter. That's what makes it fun for me; I write the books the same way many people read them.

  

  R. A. Salvatore
  • People
  • Book
  • Fun

• It's easier to release an ebook than a print book.

  

  J. A. Konrath
  • Book
  • Easier
  • Print

• Having a lot of people suddenly depending on me to get the job done was a marvelous motivator. The book and movie deals seemed to flip a switch in my head, and off I went.

  

  Laura Hillenbrand
  • People
  • Done
  • Job

• A poet's autobiography is his poetry. Anything else is just a footnote.

  

  Yevgeny Yevtushenko
  • Poetry
  • Poet
  • Anything

• Writing is a solitary journey, so I am always excited to go out on book tour and meet readers one-on-one.

  

  Dan Brown
  • Writing
  • Book
  • Journey

• I bought the rights to this book, 'The Ploughmen,' by a Montana writer named Kim Zupan, and I've written the screenplay, and I really feel pretty strong about it. It's really hauntingly beautiful. It's got some suspense and great drama, but it's a real character thing.

  

  Ed Harris
  • Great
  • Real
  • Character

• Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.

  

  Malala Yousafzai
  • World
  • Book
  • Remember

• I love writing two narratives! I think concurrent storylines are my favorite way to write a book.

  

  Taylor Jenkins Reid
  • Writing
  • Love
  • Book

• The dance can reveal everything mysterious that is hidden in music, and it has the additional merit of being human and palpable. Dancing is poetry with arms and legs.

  

  Charles Baudelaire
  • Music
  • Poetry
  • Dance

• Hungry man, reach for the book: it is a weapon.

  

  Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht
  • Book

• I really feel very strongly that the person who runs for office is the courageous one, and the one who everybody has to know.

  

  Barbara Bush
  • Know
  • Feel
  • Courageous

• Almost every single commercial on television for shampoo, sports shoes, drinks, food, clothes, perfume, cars, etc., is a short fairy tale, for they are given magical qualities.

  

  Jack Zipes
  • Food
  • Single
  • Sports

• I opted out of the band.

  

  Lou Gramm Foreigner
  • Band

• I don't think anybody reads a book of poetry front to back. Editors and reviewers only. I don't think anybody else does.

  

  Billy Collins
  • Book
  • Poetry