Walt Whitman
168 quotes
Biography
Walter Whitman Jr. was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature.
"Resist much, obey little."
"What is that you express in your eyes? It seems to me more than all the print I have read in my life."
"Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself; I am large -- I contain multitudes."
"Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you."
"Whatever satisfies the soul is truth."
"I celebrate myself, and sing myself."
"We convince by our presence."
"I like the scientific spirit—the holding off, the being sure but not too sure, the willingness to surrender ideas when the evidence is against them: this is ultimately fine—it always keeps the way beyond open—always gives life, thought, affection, the whole man, a chance to try over again after a mistake—after a wrong guess."
"Peace is always beautiful."
"I discover myself on the verge of a usual mistake."
"The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity."
"Pointing to another world will never stop vice among us; shedding light over this world can alone help us."
"If you want me again look for me under your boot soles."
"Re-examine all you have been told. Dismiss what insults your soul."
"Some people are so much sunshine to the square inch."
"I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world."
"I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume,For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you."
"Every moment of light and dark is a miracle."
"Argue not concerning God,…re-examine all that you have been told at church or school or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your soul…"
"I act as the tongue of you,... tied in your mouth . . . . in mine it begins to be loosened."
"Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road.Healthy, free, the world before me.The long brown path before me leading me wherever I choose.Henceforth, I ask not good fortune, I myself am good fortune.Henceforth, I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing."
"I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I loveIf you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.You will hardly know who I am or what I meanBut I shall be good health to you nonethelessAnd filter and fibre your blood."
"This is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless, Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done,Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes thou lovest best. Night, sleep, and the stars."
"I am larger, better than I thought; I did not know I held so much goodness.All seems beautiful to me.Whoever denies me, it shall not trouble me; Whoever accepts me, he or she shall be blessed, and shall bless me."
"I have said that the soul is not more than the body,And I have said that the body is not more than the soul,And nothing, not God, is greater to one than one's-self is,"