---
title: "1 Generally Ignored Quotes By Billy Collins"
description: "1 Generally Ignored quotes by Billy Collins. Plus more from Billy Collins and more Generally Ignored sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ca/billy-collins-3004_aspect_one-of-the-ridiculous-aspects-of-being-a_1514128.png"
---

> [One of the ridiculous aspects of being a poet is the huge gulf between how seriously we take ourselves and how generally we are ignored by everybody else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/one-of-the-ridiculous-aspects-of-being-a-poet-is-the-huge-gulf/)

[Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ca/billy-collins-3004_aspect_one-of-the-ridiculous-aspects-of-being-a_1514128.png)

## More by Billy Collins

> [“The whole idea of it makes me feel Like I’m coming down with something, Something worse than any stomach ache Or the headaches I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/the-whole-idea-of-it-makes-me-feel-like-i-m-coming-down-with/)

[Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/)

> [I think clarity is the real risk in poetry because you are exposed. You're out in the open field. You're actually saying things that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/i-think-clarity-is-the-real-risk-in-poetry-because-you-are-exposed/)

[Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/)

> [...pleasure, of course, is a slippery word… Our pleasures ultimately belong to us, not to the pleasure's so](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/pleasure-of-course-is-a-slippery-word-our-pleasures-ultimately-belong/)

[Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/)

> [I stared up at the ebbing quarter moon and the stars scattered like a handful of salt across the faraway sky...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/i-stared-up-at-the-ebbing-quarter-moon-and-the-stars-scattered-like-a/)

[Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/)

> [Death is what makes life fun.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/death-is-what-makes-life-fun/)

[Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/)

> [A trouble with poetry is the presence of presumptuousness in poetry, the sense you get in a poem that the poet takes for granted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/a-trouble-with-poetry-is-the-presence-of-presumptuousness-in-poetry/)

[Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/)

> [You come by your style by learning what to leave out. At first you tend to overwrite—embellishment instead of insight. You either continue to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/you-come-by-your-style-by-learning-what-to-leave-out-at-first-you/)

[Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/)

> [But my heart is always propped up in a field on its tripod, ready for the next arrow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/but-my-heart-is-always-propped-up-in-a-field-on-its-tripod-ready-for/)

[Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/)

> [I can hear the library humming in the night, a choir of authors murmuring inside their books along the unlit, alphabetical shelves, Giovanni Pontano…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/i-can-hear-the-library-humming-in-the-night-a-choir-of-authors/)

[Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/)

> [Every Day Is for the Thief is a vivid, episodic evocation of the truism that you can't go home again; but that doesn't mean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/every-day-is-for-the-thief-is-a-vivid-episodic-evocation-of-the/)

[Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/)

> [Humor, for me, is really a gate of departure. Its a way of enticing a reader into a poem so that less funny things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/humor-for-me-is-really-a-gate-of-departure-its-a-way-of-enticing-a/)

[Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/)

> [You know how sometimes you just have a memory of looking up and seeing a face looking over your crib and then remember nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/you-know-how-sometimes-you-just-have-a-memory-of-looking-up-and/)

[Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/)

> [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/usually-the-poems-are-written-in-one-sitting-there-s-always-a-groping/)

[Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/)

> [I was influenced by the Beats because I actually just began to commit adolescence around 1955, when "Howl" and Rebel Without a Cause and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/i-was-influenced-by-the-beats-because-i-actually-just-began-to-commit/)

[Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/)

> [Some difficulty is warranted and other difficulty I think is gratuitous. And I think I can tell the difference. There are certainly very difficult…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/some-difficulty-is-warranted-and-other-difficulty-i-think-is/)

[Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/)

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