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Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman Quotes

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Famous Walt Whitman Quotes

“Re-examine all you have been told in school or church or in any book,and dismiss whatever insults your own soul... It is also not consistent with the reality of the soul to admit that there is anything in the known universe more divine than men and women. The master knows that he is unspeakably great and that all are unspeakably great. There will soon be no more priests... They may wait awhile, perhaps a generation or two, dropping off by degrees. A superior breed shall take their place.A new order shall arise and they shall be the priests of man,and every man shall be his own priest.”

KnowsMenMayHas BeensTwoBookSoulRealitySchoolOrderUniverseWaitingChurchKnownGenerationsDivineMastersDegreesMen And WomenEvery ManAriseSuperiorsInsultConsistentPriestsDropping
Author:Walt Whitman
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“Are you the new person drawn toward me? To begin with, take warning - I am surely far different from what you suppose; Do you suppose you will find in me your ideal? Do you think it so easy to have me become your lover? Do you think the friendship of me would be unalloy'd satisfaction? Do you think I am trusty and faithful? Do you see no further than this façade—this smooth and tolerant manner of me? Do you suppose yourself advancing on real ground toward a real heroic man? Have you no thought, O dreamer, that it may be all maya, illusion?”

ThinkingMenMayPersonsDifferentRealWould BeEasyLoversIllusionIdealsSatisfactionFaithfulWarningDreamerHeroicSmoothAdvancingMaya Illusion
Book:Leaves of Grass
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“And I will show that there is no imperfection in the present, and can be none in the future, And I will show that whatever happens to anybody it may be turn'd to beautiful results, And I will show that nothing can happen more beautiful than death, And I will thread a thread through my poems that time and events are compact, And that all the things of the universe are perfect miracles, each as profound as any.”

MayShowsHappensBeautifulTurnsUniversePerfectResultsEventsMiracleProfoundImperfectionThreadWhatever HappensCompact
Book:Selected poems
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“O YOU whom I often and silently come where you are, that I may be with you; As I walk by your side, or sit near, or remain in the same room with you, Little you know the subtle electric fire that for your sake is playing within me.”

KnowsLoveMayLittlesDreamSidesWalksRoomsFireSakeSubtleWhere You AreElectricYour Side
Book:Leaves of Grass: A Textual Variorum of the Printed Poems, 1860-1867
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“Well, every man has a religion; has something in heaven or earth which he will give up everything else for - something which absorbs him - which may be regarded by others as being useless - yet it is his dream, it is his lodestar, it is his master. That, whatever it is, seized upon me, made me its servant, slave - induced me to set aside the other ambitions a trail of glory in the heavens, which I followed, followed with a full heart. ...When once I am convinced, I never let go.”

MenGivingWellsHeartMayMadeDreamEarthHeavenMastersLetting GoGiving UpAmbitionGloryCommitmentSlaveConvincedEvery ManUselessServantTrailsNever Let GoFull Hearts
Author:Walt Whitman
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“Did you, too, O friend, suppose democracy was only for elections, for politics, and for a party name? I say democracy is only of use there that it may pass on and come to its flower and fruit in manners, in the highest forms of interaction between people, and their beliefs - in religion, literature, colleges and schools- democracy in all public and private life.”

PeopleMayUseSchoolFormLiteratureNamesBeliefPartyDemocracyCollegeFlowerHighestElectionFruitMannersInteractionPrivate Life
Book:Democratic Vistas: The Original Edition in Facsimile
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