Billy Collins Quotes
If you write a letter of resignation or something with an agenda, you're simply using a pen to record what you have thought out. In a poem, the pen is more like a flashlight, a Geiger counter, or one of those metal detectors that people walk around beaches with.
Quotes to Explore
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Age is just a number. Unless, that is, you live in Hollywood, where there's this notion that if you haven't hit it big by your 20s, you may as well hit the road.
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If you look at the scientists who really make a difference, they think boldly. They're not afraid to question what they see.
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A great work is made out of a combination of obedience and liberty.
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Now, performing is second nature and I love every second of it. It is a very emotional thing when I can't play a song; maybe I'm hitting on something that I don't want to deal with. All of it is so personal. It is like therapy.
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Self-preservation is the first law of nature.
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I know what I look like - a weird, sad clown puppet. I'm fine with that.
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We fear to know the fearsome and unsavory aspects of ourselves, but we fear even more to know the godlike in ourselves.
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I don't have a great instrument. I don't have the kind of ungodly control over my voice and body that great actors have. And I've worked with enough great actors to know that I'm not one.
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And when did mere preaching do any good? Put something in the place of these things. Fill the vacuum of the mind.
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Judge Sotomayor is a liberal judicial activist of the first order who thinks her own personal political agenda is more important that the law as written.
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I have this first album that sells more than 100,000 copies in its first week, debuts at number two, goes gold, the single goes platinum, we're doing Madison Square Garden.
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Without children, men have more liberty to earn less - that is, they are free to pursue more fulfilling and less lucrative careers, like writing or art or teaching social studies.
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My message is: You don't have to give up being popular, fun, or fashionable in order to be smart; they can go hand and hand. Doing math is a great way to exercise your brain; being smart is going to make you more powerful in life.
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Mumbai is like Manhattan. There's a certain pace, a social life and the thrill of a professional life.
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I go out and speak to women's groups all the time, and I say, 'Guys, you gotta laugh and find the humor in things. You gotta pass it on.'
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One knows less about one's own destiny than about anything else on earth.
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I need to have proper equipment when I work out, and the Nike Frees are light, comfortable, and great for training. I also usually bring a short-sleeve or long-sleeve compression shirt and a pair of shorts.
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My grandparents used to bring me books every time they saw me.
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There's no way you can possibly intellectually justify, 'Well, it's okay for the Western Judeo-Christian countries to have nuclear weapons, but not for a country like Iran.' That logic goes nowhere fast.
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Many of the less prolific killers' stories go unheard because they simply don't make good books.
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A president, like a college freshman, can't know in advance which questions he'll have to answer or what topics he'll have to master. He has to be flexible, supple, and responsive. He has to be comfortable with multiple-choice.
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I've had to fight to improve my life. Nothing has come easily.
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The Cube is, at the same time, a symbol of simplicity and complexity.
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If you write a letter of resignation or something with an agenda, you're simply using a pen to record what you have thought out. In a poem, the pen is more like a flashlight, a Geiger counter, or one of those metal detectors that people walk around beaches with.
