Quotes by Walt Whitman

About Walt Whitman:

Walter "Walt" Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. His work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality.
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Thought Of equality- as if it harm'd me, giving others the same chances and rights as myself- as if it were not indispensable to my own rights that others possess the same.

Walt Whitman

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...

Walt Whitman

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

Walt Whitman

re-examine all you have been told in school or church or in any book, and dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem, and have the richest fluency, not only in its words, but in the silent lines of its lips and ...

Walt Whitman

I swear to you the architects shall appear without fall, I swear to you they will understand you and justify you, The greatest among them shall be he who best knows you, and encloses all and is faithful to all, He and the rest shall not forget you, t...

Walt Whitman

I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.

Walt Whitman

Not I, nor anyone else can travel that road for you. You must travel it by yourself. It is not far. It is within reach. Perhaps you have been on it since you were born, and did not know. Perhaps it is everywhere - on water and land.

Walt Whitman

O Me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d with the foolish; Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?) Of eyes that vainly crave...

Walt Whitman

The untold want, by life and land ne'er granted, Now, Voyager, sail thou forth, to seek and find.

Walt Whitman

Give me such shows--give me the streets of Manhattan!

Walt Whitman

TO the States or any one of them, or any city of the States, Resist much, obey little, Once unquestioning obedience, once fully enslaved, Once fully enslaved, no nation, state, city of this earth, ever after-ward resumes its liberty.

Walt Whitman

When I Read the Book" When I read the book, the biography famous, And is this then (said I) what the author calls a man's life? And so will some one when I am dead and gone write my life? (As if any man really knew aught of my life, Why even I myself...

Walt Whitman

One's-Self I Sing One's-self I sing, a simple separate person, Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-Masse. Of physiology from top to toe I sing, Not physiognomy alone nor brain alone is worthy for the Muse, I say the Form complete is worthier f...

Walt Whitman

The American bards shall be marked for generosity and affection and for encouraging competitors… . The great poets are also to be known by the absence in them of tricks and by the justification of perfect personal candor… . How beautiful is cando...

Walt Whitman

I believe in the flesh and the appetites; Seeing, hearing, feeling, are miracles, and each part and tag of me is a miracle. Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch or am touch’d from; The scent of these arm-pits, aroma finer th...

Walt Whitman

I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

Walt Whitman

For we cannot tarry here, We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger, We, the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend, Pioneers! O pioneers!

Walt Whitman

O you youths, Western youths, So impatient, full of action, full of manly pride and friendship, Plain I see you Western youths, see you tramping with the foremost, Pioneers! O pioneers!

Walt Whitman

Only themselves understand themselves and the like of themselves, As souls only understand souls.

Walt Whitman

One world is aware and by far the largest to me, and that is myself, / And whether I come to my own to-day or in ten thousand or ten / million years, / I can cheerfully take it now, or with equal cheerfulness I can wait.

Walt Whitman

I think I will do nothing for a long time but listen, And accrue what I hear into myself...and let sound contribute toward me.

Walt Whitman

Author Bio

  • NameWalt Whitman
  • DescriptionAmerican poet, essayist and journalist
  • AliasesWalter "Walt" Whitman; Walter Whitman
  • BornMay 31, 1819
  • DiedMarch 26, 1892
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionNurse; Poet; Novelist; Journalist; Essayist; Writer