Walt Whitman - Song of Myself, 1855

I celebrate myself, and sing myself.
Walt Whitman - Leaves of Grass
Stranger, if you passing meet me and desire to speak to me, why should you not speak to me? And why should I not speak to you?
Walt Whitman
Nothing endures but personal qualities.
Walt Whitman
The poet judges not as a judge judges but as the sun falling around a helpless thing.
Walt Whitman
I exist as I am, that is enough.
Walt Whitman
This day before dawn I ascended a hill and looked at the crowded heaven.
Walt Whitman - "Leaves of Grass"
Has anyone supposed it lucky to be born? I hasten to inform him or her that it is just as lucky to die, and I know it.
Walt Whitman
Give me the splendid silent sun with all his beams full-dazzling.
Walt Whitman - Song of Myself
I exist as I am, that is enough.
Walt Whitman
The habit of giving only enhances the desire to give.
Walt Whitman - "Leaves of Grass"
Was it doubted that those who corrupt their own bodies conceal themselves?
Walt Whitman - Preface to Leaves of Grass, 1855
The proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it.
Walt Whitman - Song of the Open Road
Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons.
It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.
Walt Whitman
I am as bad as the worst, but, thank God, I am as good as the best.
Walt Whitman - Song of the Open Road
Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons. It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.
Walt Whitman - "Song of Myself"
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
Walt Whitman
Either define the moment or the moment will define you.
Walt Whitman
Nothing endures but personal qualities.
Walt Whitman
If any thing is sacred the human body is sacred.
Walt Whitman
The poet judges not as a judge judges but as the sun falling around a helpless thing.

- Walt Whitman - Song of Myself, 1855