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Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman Quotes

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Famous Walt Whitman Quotes

“Our leading men are not of much account and never have been, but the average of the people is immense, beyond all history. Sometimes I think in all departments, literature and art included, that will be the way our superiority will exhibit itself. We will not have great individuals or great leaders, but a great average bulk, unprecedentedly great.”

PeopleThinkingMenWayHas BeensArtSometimesLiteratureIndividualLeaderMassAccountsAverageDepartmentImmenseSuperiorityGreat LeaderExhibitsLiterature And Art
Book:Prose Works 1892: Speciman Days
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“Swiftly arose and spread around me the peace and knowledge that pass all the argument of the earth, And I know that the hand of God is the promise of my own, And I know that the spirit of God is the brother of my own, And that all the men ever born are also my brothers, and the women my sisters and lovers, And that a kelson of the creation is love.”

KnowsMenLoveHandsEarthSpiritPeaceBornMy OwnCreationHe ManBrotherLoversPromiseArgumentSpreadMy BrotherMy SisterSpirit Of GodHands Of God
Book:Annotated LEAVES OF GRASS with English Grammar Exercises: by Walt Whitman (Author), Robert Powell (Editor)
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“I saw battle-corpses, myriads of them, And the white skeletons of young men-I saw them; I saw the debris and debris of all the dead soldiers of the war; But I saw they were not as was thought; They themselves were fully at rest-they suffer'd not; The living remain'd and suffer'd-the mother suffer'd, And the wife and the child, and the musing comrade suffer'd, And the armies that remain'd suffer'd.”

MenChildrenWarYoungMotherSufferingWhiteSawsWifeBattleArmySoldierYoung ManVeteranCorpsesComradeSkeletonsVeterans DayMusingsDebrisDead Soldiers
Book:Passage to India
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“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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“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.”

IfsThinkingMenWellsChildrenDoeDifferentEndsMomentsShowsYoungDeathDiesWaitingAliveOld ManCollapseSmallestLeaves Of GrassSproutsYoung And Old
Author:Walt Whitman
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“Why should I wish to see God better than this day? I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then, In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass; I find letters from God dropped in the street, and every one is signed by God's name, And I leave them where they are, for I know that others will punctually come forever and ever.”

KnowsMenShouldMomentsFacesNamesWishHoursMy OwnForeverFourStreetsMen And WomenLettersTwentiesGlassesThis DayShould I
Book:Walt Whitman: Selected Poems 1855-1892
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“The greatest country, the richest country, is not that which has the most capitalists, monopolists, immense grabbings, vast fortunes, with its sad, sad soil of extreme, degrading, damning poverty, but the land in which there are the most homesteads, freeholds - where wealth does not show such contrasts high and low, where all men have enough - a modest living- and no man is made possessor beyond the sane and beautiful necessities.”

MenDoeMadeCountryEnoughShowsBeautifulWealthPovertyLandLowsEconomicsFortuneExtremesInequalitySoilCapitalistContrastSaneImmenseModestDegradingSocial ClassGrabbingHighs And LowsEconomic InequalityWealth InequalityEconomic Equality
Author:Walt Whitman
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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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“I see the President almost every day. I see very plainly Abraham Lincoln's dark brown face with its deep-cut lines, the eyes always to me with a deep latent sadness in the expression. None of the artists or pictures has caught the deep, though subtle and indirect expression of this man's face. There is something else there. One of the great portrait painters of two or three centuries ago is needed.”

MenTwoWarEyeFacesArtistThreePresidentLinesDarkCuttingSadnessCenturyExpressionNeededCaughtPainterCivil WarBrownSubtlePortraitsAbrahamLatentIndirect
Author:Walt Whitman
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“This is what you should do: love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men ... re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss what insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem.”

PeopleMenGivingShouldHas BeensBookSoulSchoolEarthHateAsksChurchAnimalNumbersKnownSunCrazyStupidLaborRichesArguingFleshIncomeInsultPetHatsTyrantsDespiseIndulgenceLeaves Of GrassHaving PatienceAlmsEarth And Sun
Author:Walt Whitman
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“To me, every hour of the light and dark is a miracle, every inch of space is a miracle, every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same, every cubic foot of the interior swarms with the same; every spear of grass-the frames, limbs, organs, of men and women, and all that concerns them, all these to me are unspeakably perfect miracles.”

MenLightEarthHoursDarkSpacePerfectFeetMen And WomenConcernMiracleSpreadSurfaceGrassSquaresInchesOrgansYardsInteriorsLimbsSpearsLight And DarkSwarms
Book:Whitman: The Mystic Poets
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“Lo, the most excellent sun so calm and haughty, The violet and purple morn with just-felt breezes, The gentle soft-born measureless light, The miracle spreading bathing all, the fulfill'd noon, The coming eve delicious, the welcome night and the stars, Over my cities shining all, enveloping man and land.”

MenLightNightStarsFeltBornCitiesSunLandMiracleShiningCalmWelcomeExcellentGentleDeliciousBreezeVioletPurpleNoonBathingHaughty
Book:Leaves of Grass: A Textual Variorum of the Printed Poems, 1860-1867
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