Billy Collins Quotes
I think what gets a poem going is an initiating line. Sometimes a first line will occur, and it goes nowhere; but other times - and this, I think, is a sense you develop - I can tell that the line wants to continue. If it does, I can feel a sense of momentum - the poem finds a reason for continuing.
Quotes to Explore
-
Well, you know, I was through the whole of the Second World War and saw all my friends killed.
-
My greatest regret is selling my company.
-
For me, and this may not be everybody, but because I do love country music so much, there's such a feeling of home in Nashville, especially because it's such a small town. You bring up one song, everybody knows who wrote it, everybody knows their mother and what their cell number is, and all of the stories.
-
I'm trying to sell every audience something; that something is me.
-
I have always wanted to work with Lingusamy, as he is a master of commercial cinema. I have always admired his etching of female characters.
-
I spent a lot of time between bars like this.
-
I like to swim. It's good for the body and it helps clear my head.
-
Try to find someone with a sense of humor. That's an important thing to have because when you get into an argument, one of the best ways to diffuse it is to be funny. You don't want to hide away from a point, because some points are serious, but you'd rather have a discussion that was a discussion, rather than an argument.
-
Our deals and performance speak for themselves. And whoever doesn't feel comfortable investing with us will not.
-
As you get older, you get different, and I'm a mushier, softer person as I get older.
-
What really matters is what you do with what you have.
-
Successful givers secure their oxygen masks before coming to the assistance of others. Although their motives may be less purely altruistic, their actions prove more altruistic, because they give more.
-
I don't know why people feel that I am snooty. I am not a person who has ever given an interview on image building. I have never been that person, as I am very confident of what I do. People do PR, but I get completely foxed. I don't know how to do it. I stay away from the limelight, as I think my work should speak on my behalf.
-
Rhyme, that enslaved queen, that supreme charm of our poetry, that creator of our meter.
-
No one person could have broken up a band, especially one the size of the Beatles.
-
Only the dead are free of the influence of others.
-
‘Aren’t people funny? I don’t find where one sits at dinner fascinating at all,’ lied the Princess.
-
I take good care of my things. I put everything in a bag. I use soap. I put on a cream after training. People think it's capricious. To each his own. Doesn't mean you're more man or less man, more gay or less gay.
-
As a registered Democrat, I am praying for a credible presidential candidate to emerge from the younger tier of politicians in their late 40s. A governor with executive experience would be ideal.
-
To me, being an intellectual doesn't mean knowing about intellectual issues; it means taking pleasure in them.
-
The key is to constantly keep the audience surprised. If they feel like something is going to happen, or they think from an educational standpoint that something is about to happen because of all the moving parts, it is your job to break that expectation and show the audience something different.
-
I find that using real people as models keeps me from getting too formulaic in the designs of characters.
-
I still can't shake the Nebraska off of me.
-
I think what gets a poem going is an initiating line. Sometimes a first line will occur, and it goes nowhere; but other times - and this, I think, is a sense you develop - I can tell that the line wants to continue. If it does, I can feel a sense of momentum - the poem finds a reason for continuing.
