Quotations by 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 afterward resumes its liberty.

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass

All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses, And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass

When liberty goes out of a place it is not the first to go, nor the second or third to go, It waits for all the rest to go, it is the last.

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass

That coursing on, whate'er men's speculations,Amid the changing schools, theologies, philosophies,Amid the bawling presentations new and old,The round earth's silent vital laws, facts, modes continue.

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass

Brave, brave were the soldiers (high named to-day) who lived through the fight;But the bravest press'd to the front and fell, unnamed, unknown.

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass

What we believe in waits latent forever through all the continents, Invites no one, promises nothing, sits in calmness and light, is positive and composed, knows no discouragement, Waiting patiently, waiting its time.

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass

Without shame the man I like knows and avows the deliciousness of his sex, Without shame the woman I like knows and avows hers.

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass

Rest not till you rivet and publish yourself of your own Personality.

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass

In the faces of men and women I see God.

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass

Each man to himself and each woman to herself, is the word of the past and present, and the true word of immortality; No one can acquire for another — not one, Not one can grow for another — not one.

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass

Nothing can happen more beautiful than death.

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass

No man understands any greatness or goodness but his own, or the indication of his own.

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass

The earth neither lags nor hastens, It has all attributes, growths, effects, latent in itself from the jump, It is not half beautiful only, defects and excrescences show just as much as perfections show.

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass

I do not think seventy years is the time of a man or woman, Nor that seventy millions of years is the time of a man or woman, Nor that years will ever stop the existence of me, or any one else.

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass

All comes by the body, only health puts you rapport with the universe.

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass

Finally my children, to envelop each word, each part of the rest, Allah is all, all,all — immanent in every life and object, May-be at many and many-a-more removes — yet Allah, Allah, Allah is there.

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass

The song is to the singer, and comes back most to him, The teaching is to the teacher, and comes back most to him.

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass

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.

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass

What do you suppose will satisfy the soul except to walk free and own no superior?

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass

I swear I see what is better than to tell the best, It is always to leave the best untold.

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass

O I see now that life cannot exhibit all to me, as the day cannot,I see that I am to wait for what will be exhibited by death.

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass

Peace is always beautiful.

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass

Each of us inevitable;Each of us limitless—each of us with his or her right upon the earth.

Walt Whitman · Leaves of Grass