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Billy Collins Quotes - Page 3

life is a loaded gun that looks right at you with a yellow eye.

Billy Collins (2011). “Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems”, p.120, Random House

It is as if one by one, the memories you used to harbor decided to retire to the Southern Hemisphere of the brain.

Billy Collins (2012). “Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes”, p.34, Pan Macmillan

The really authentic thing about humor is that anyone can pretend to be serious. Anyone who's ever had a job - in fact, we're pretending to be serious now, more or less.

"Poet Billy Collins discusses humor, authenticity and ‘Aimless Love’". Interview with Jeffrey Brown, www.pbs.org. October 29, 2013.

I was a pretty happy kid, I had to fake it. I had to get into this miserable character before I wrote poems.

"Poet Billy Collins discusses humor, authenticity and ‘Aimless Love’". "PBS NewsHour" with Judy Woodruff, www.pbs.org. October 29, 2013.

I thought originally when I was in school and I wanted to be a poet, I knew that poets seemed to be miserable.

"Poet Billy Collins discusses humor, authenticity and ‘Aimless Love’". Interview with Jeffrey Brown, www.pbs.org. October 29, 2013.