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Quote by Billy Collins

“Part of writing is discovering the rules of the game and then deciding whether to follow the rules or to break them. The great thing about the game of poetry is that it's always your turn - I guess that goes back to my being an only child. So once it's under way, there is a sense of flow.”

Quote by Billy Collins

Author

Billy Collins is a renowned American poet, born on March 22, 1941. His poetry is known for its simplicity, humor, and profound insights, making it popular among readers. Collins served as the United States Poet Laureate and taught at several universities. more

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“Usually the poems are written in one sitting. There's always a groping towards some satisfying ending. But I'd say the hardest part is not writing. Once the writing starts, it's too pleasurable to think of it as a difficulty.”

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Author:Billy Collins

“I'm speaking to someone I'm trying to get to fall in love with me. I'm trying to speak intimately to one person. That should be clear. I'm not speaking to an audience. I'm not writing for the podium. I'm just writing, trying to write in a fairly quiet tone to one other reader who is by herself, or himself, and I'm trying to interrupt some silence in their life, which is utterance.”

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Author:Billy Collins

“As soon as I start to write I'm very aware, I'm trying to be aware that a reader just might well pick up this poem, a stranger. So when I'm writing - and I think that this is important for all writers - I'm trying to be a writer and a reader back and forth. I write two lines or three lines. I will immediately stop and turn into a reader instead of a writer, and I'll read those lines as if I had never seen them before and as if I had never written them.”

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Author:Billy Collins

“You'll find i-poetry, you'll find that you can download poetry, that you can stuff your i-pod with recorded poetry. So just to answer the question that way, I think that poetry is gonna catch up with that technology quite soon.”

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Author:Billy Collins

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.”

Ifs Knows Way Love Life Inspirational Believe Heart Matter Found Peace Work Inspiring Careers Havens Inspire Hard Work Findings Stress Innovation Entrepreneur Satisfaction Satisfied Settling Memorable Finding Yourself What Matters Good Work Everyday Life Going To Work Great Work If You Believe Inventor Follow Your Heart Best Work Great People Trust Yourself Be True To Yourself Doing You Listen To Your Heart Best Job Great Job Chase Your Dreams Creativity And Innovation Listen To Yourself Belive Doing Your Best Successful Entrepreneurs Business Innovation Day Jobs Innovation And Business Real Jobs Stanford Different Jobs Working Life Self-satisfaction Work Day Innovation Inspiration Matters Of The Heart Work Related Connecting The Dots Love Your Work Stanford University Two Jobs Work You Love Business Change Inspirational And Innovation Job Well Done Loving What You Do I Haven't Changed Inspiration And Innovation Challenges In Business Self Inspirational Job Growth Famous Hard Working Settling In Work And Life Love Your Job Looking For Work Starting Up Job Satisfaction Small Jobs Best Believe Working Late

Author:Steve Jobs

“I find it strange that - at least in my take on it - the people who are the most alarmed about the dire times we live in are the ones who seem to be humorless, in their taste for poetry anyway. Humor is just an ingredient. It's always been in poetry. It kind of dropped out of poetry I think during the 19th and up to the mid-twentieth century. But it's found its way back. And it's simply an ingredient.”

People Thinking Way Kind Seems Found Century Strange Taste Ingredients Twentieth Century

Author:Billy Collins

“I'm a line-maker. I think that's what makes poets different from prose-writers. That's the main way. We think, not just in sentences the way prose writers do but also in lines. So we're doing these two things at the same time.”

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Author:Billy Collins

“When I'm constructing a poem, I'm trying to write one good line after another. One solid line after another. You know a lot of the lines - some hold up better as lines than others. But I'm not thinking of just writing a paragraph and then chopping it up.”

Thinking Knows Writing Trying Lines Paragraph Chopping

Author:Billy Collins

“I'm very conscious of the fact that every line should have a cadence to it. It should contribute to the progress of the poem. And that the ending of the line is a way of turning the reader's attention back into the interior of the poem.”

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Author:Billy Collins

“I always think W.S. Merwin's poems will last of anyone writing today. If I had to bet on posterity I would bet Merwin. My poems could easily evaporate. So I don't know. If you find yourself as a writer thinking about posterity you should probably go out for a brisk walk or something.”

Ifs Thinking Knows Should Writing Today Lasts Walks Finding Yourself Posterity

Author:Billy Collins