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Walt Whitman Quotes

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Famous Walt Whitman Quotes

“He is a type of our best — our rarest. Electrical, I was going to say, beyond anyone, perhaps, ever was: charged, surcharged. Not a founder of new philosophies — not of that build. But a towering magnetic presence, filling the air about with light, warmth, inspiration. A great intellect, penetrating, in ways (on his field) the best of our time — to be long kept, cherished, passed on... It should not be surprising that I am drawn to Ingersoll, for he is 'Leaves of Grass.' He lives, embodies, the individuality I preach. 'Leaves of Grass' utters individuality, the most extreme, uncompromising. I see in Bob the noblest specimen —American-flavored—pure out of the soil, spreading, giving, demanding light. {Whitman's thought on his good friend, the great Robert Ingersoll}”

LovePhilosophyPoetryFriendshipGreatnessHonorRespectPraiseIndividualityWarmIntellectAdmirationBrotherhoodLeaves Of GrassComplimentsIngersollRobert G IngersollRobert IngersollRobert Green IngersollBob Ingersoll
Author:Walt Whitman
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“A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands; How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he. I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven. Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord, A scented gift and remembrancer designedly dropt, Bearing the owner’s name someway in the corners, that we may see and remark, and say Whose? Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of the vegetation. Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic, And it means, Sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones, Growing among black folks as among white, Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them the same, I receive them the same. And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves. Tenderly will I use you curling grass, It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men, It may be if I had known them I would have loved them. It may be you are from old people, or from offspring taken soon out of their mothers’ laps, And here you are the mothers’ laps. This grass is very dark to be from the white heads of old mothers. Darker than the colorless beards of old men, Dark to come from under the faint red roofs of mouths. O I perceive after all so many uttering tongues, And I perceive they do not come from the roofs of mouths for nothing. I wish I could translate the hints about the dead young men and women, And the hints about old men and mothers, and the offspring taken soon out of their laps. What do you think has become of the young and old men? And what do you think has become of the women and children? They are alive and well somewhere, The smallest sprout shows there is really no death, And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it, And ceas’d the moment life appear’d. All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses, And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.”

PoetryLeaves Of GrassSong Of Myself
Author:Walt Whitman
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“I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journeywork of the stars, And the pismire is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren, And the tree toad is a chef-d'oeurve for the highest, And the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven, And the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery, And the cow crunching with depress'd head surpasses any statue, And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels!”

BelieveEnoughHandsRunningI BelieveHeavenStarsPerfectTreeHighestMiracleEnvironmentalGrassSandEggsCowsGrainDepressingChefMiceLeafsMachineryStatuesScornHingesInfidelLeaves Of GrassToadsGrains Of SandParlorBlackberriesWrens
Author:Walt Whitman
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“Wisdom is not finally tested in schools, Wisdom cannot be pass'd from one having it to another not having it, Wisdom is of the soul, is not susceptible of proof, is its own proof, Applies to all stages and objects and qualities and is content, Is the certainty of the reality and immortality of things, and the excellence of things; Something there is in the float of the sight of things that provokes it out of the soul.”

SoulRealitySchoolQualityStageObjectsSightExcellenceProofCertaintyImmortalityProvokingTestedFloatsSusceptibleLeaves Of Grass
Book:Selected poems
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“Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.”

InspirationalHappinessFacesMotivationFallBehindsAttitudePositivePositive ThinkingShadowInspirational AttitudePositivityPositive AttitudeHard TimesSunshineRetirementYour FaceNursePositivelyBehind YouPower Of Positive ThinkingLeaves Of GrassKeep A Positive AttitudeLife AttitudeLight And ShadowAttitude And LifeThink PositivelyAttitude Towards LifeHappy SunshinePositive ExpectationsPositive MindMy SunshineKeep PositiveFalling Behind
Book:Walt Whitman Quotes... Vol. 20: Motivational and Inspirational Life Quotes by Walt Whitman
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“The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity.”

ArtLightHappinessExpressionGloryArt IsLettersSimplicitySunshineGreat ArtistLeaves Of GrassCreative ArtistsArt And ArtistsArt And CreativityInspirational ArtistCreative ExpressionArtists And CreativityInspirational ArtFavorite ArtistHappy SunshineSimplicity In ArtMy Sunshine
Book:Leaves of Grass: The Original 1855 Edition
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“I exist as I am, that is enough, If no other in the world be aware I sit content, And if each and all be aware I sit content. One world is aware, and by the far the largest to me, and that is myself, And whether I come to my own today or in ten thousand or ten million years, I can cheerfully take it now, or with equal cheerfulness, I can wait.”

IfsWorldYearsI CanEnoughTodayWaitingMy OwnMillionsThousandTenEqualCheerfulnessLeaves Of Grass
Book:Walt Whitman: Selected Poems 1855-1892
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“I think I could turn and live with the animals, they are so placid and self contained; I stand and look at them long and long. They do not sweat and whine about their condition; They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins; They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God; Not one is dissatisfied-not one is demented with the mania of owning things; Not one kneels to another, nor his kind that lived thousands of years ago; Not one is responsible or industrious over the whole earth.”

ThinkingYearsLooksKindLongSelfWholeEarthLyingTurnsDarkSinAnimalConditionsDutyYears AgoSickResponsibleAwakeSweatDiscussingDissatisfiedIndustriousManiaHuman AnimalLeaves Of GrassDementedPlacidSelf ContainedDuty To God
Author:Walt Whitman
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