Quotes from Walt Whitman

O the blest eyes, the happy hearts, That see, that know the guiding thread so fine, Along the mighty labyrinth. -from Song of the Universal

Stronger Lessons Have you learn'd lessons only of those who admired you, and were tender with you, and stood aside for you? Have you not learn'd great lessons from those who reject you, and brace themselves against you? or who treat you with contempt, or dispute the passage with you?

am to think of you when I sit alone, or wake at night alone; I am to wait--I do not doubt I am to meet you again; I am to see to it that I do not lose you.

Lilac and star and bird twined with the chant of my soul, There in the fragrant pines and the cedars dusk and dim.

What is a man anyhow? what am I? what are you?

I visit the orchards of God and look at the spheric product And look at quintillions ripened, and look at quintillions green.

am integral with you, I too am of one phase and of all phases.

Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.

Seeing, hearing, feeling, are miracles, and each part and tag of me is a miracle.

As I see my soul reflected in Nature, As I see through a mist, One with inexpressible completeness, sanity, beauty, See the bent head and arms folded over the breast, the Female I see.

Have you ever loved the body of a woman? Have you ever loved the body of a man? Do you not see that these are exactly the same to all in all nations and all times all over the earth?

Blind loving wrestling touch, sheath'd hooded sharp-tooth'd touch! Did it make you ache so, leaving me?

Have you ever thought how much is in the negative quality of nature—the negative—the simply loafing, doing nothing, worrying about nothing, living out of doors and getting fresh air, plenty of sleep—letting everything else take care of itself?

Eravamo insieme. Tutto il resto del mondo l'ho scordato.

Here is the test of wisdom, 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.

He sees eternity in men and women, he does not see men and women as dreams or dots.

I swear the earth shall surely be complete to him or her who shall be complete; The earth remains jagged and broken only to him or her who remains jagged and broken.

I am an acme of things accomplish'd, and I an encloser of things to be.

The Americans of all nations at any time upon the earth have probably the fullest poetical nature. The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem.

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.

After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, love, and so on — have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear — what remains? Nature remains; to bring out from their torpid recesses, the affinities of a man or woman with the open air, the trees, fields, the changes of seasons — the sun by day and the stars of heaven by night.

Know'st thou not there is but one theme for ever-enduring bards?  And that is the theme of War, the fortune of battles,  The making of perfect soldiers.

After all, the great lesson is that no special natural sights---not Alps, Niagara, Yosemite or anything else---is more grand or more beautiful than the ordinary sunrise and sunset, earth and sky, the common trees and grass.

The chief trait of any given poet is always the spirit he brings to the observation of Humanity and Nature—the mood out of which he contemplates his subjects.