Billy Collins Quotes

One can't write without having read - you have to read before beginning to write - and universities offer a very good opportunity to read.

The most important thing is to read as much as you can, like I did. It will give you an understanding of what makes good writing and it will enlarge your vocabulary.

Read as much as you can, and then sit down and write.

I went to college, but I learned to write by reading - and writing.

Reading enables us to see with the keenest eyes, to hear with the finest ears, and listen to the sweetest voices of all time.

He taught me literature, and he actually taught me how to read. He was my personal mentor.

We in universities are not in the democracy business. What we do, when we're doing it, is teach and learn.

So I grew up in a very book-friendly environment and my education as a writer was reading. I think that's the best education. Reading, and taking from the people I admired.

I think I learned a lot from reading in general - even from reading badly written books.

When I was teaching English and trying to get kids passionate about reading, the most effective weapon I had was 'The Martian Chronicles.'

Reading taught me how to write.

If you read literature, you put yourself in somebody else's shoes. You learn from great figures in literature.

You have to be literate in today's world. We're not going to get away with not teaching boys to read.

Read a lot - poems, prose, stories, newspapers, anything. Read books and poems that you think you will like and some that you think might not be for you. You might be surprised.

Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book.

I was also in love with the English language.

After high school, I went to Stanford University and majored in English. Of course, that gave me a chance to do lots more reading and writing. I also received degrees in London and Dublin - where I moved to be near a charming Irishman who became my husband!

I grew up in a literary home and majored in French, English, and sociology. They all have served me well over the years.

Read a lot. Read broadly... Tell stories to your friends, and pay attention to when they get bored... Write a lot.

I ended up doing four or five plays in college and being an English major with my thesis in language acquisition, which I was planning to study in graduate school.

I wasn't going to be a college kid. The only subject I was interested in was English. I think I had a subconscious interest in analyzing story.

You learn to write by reading, and my experiences and tastes as a reader are pretty wide.

I take a real interest in the possibilities of teaching - including the practice of bringing creative writing, and serious reading, into the classroom. I am persuaded that since language is alive, much of the challenge has already been met by the poets and novelists we read.

We're not in love with Literature all the time - especially when you have to teach it every day.

There is an art of reading, as well as an art of thinking, and an art of writing.