Quotes by Walt Whitman

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For there to be great poets, there must also be great listeners.

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I am as I am, that's enough, If no one else in the world notices, I sit in peace, And if everyone notices, I still sit in peace.

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I don't know what's left, the unknown, But I know if it comes, it will be good and it can't be avoided.

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Not to exclude and fence off, or to single out evil from its terrifying crowd (or just to show it), But to add, mix, increase, complete - and celebrate the immortal and the good.

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It is useless to wander about, both the learned and the ignorant feel that it is so.

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Neither I nor anyone else can walk this path for you, You have to walk it yourself.

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Look no matter how far, there is still boundless space beyond, Count no matter how much, there is still boundless time around it.

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I believe that no blade of grass is less than the work of the stars.

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There never was more beginning than there is now, Nor more youth or old age than there is now, Nor will there ever be more perfection than there is now, Nor more heaven or hell than there is now.

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Did you learn only from those who admired you and were kind to you? Have you not learned important lessons from those who reject you and conspire against you?

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Nothing passes away, everything remains, (...) although the body is sluggish, tired, withered, the embers of old fires still burn inside and rekindle.

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I say nothing greater or less, Which fills its age and place, whatever it is equal to.

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I know I deserve my enemies, but I don't think I deserve my friends.

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I think I could go and live with the animals, they are so peaceful and humble, I stand and look at them for a long, long time. They do not sweat or groan at their lot, They do not lie awake in the dark, lamenting their sins, They do not become embittered by discussing their obligations to God, Not one is dissatisfied, not one is distracted by the madness of judgment, Not one kneels before another, nor lived a thousand years earlier in front of his kind, None of them respectable or unlucky on the whole globe.

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After you have exhausted all that you could get from business, politics, amusements and all that - you find that you get no ultimate satisfaction from any of these and they are all transitory - what is left? The nature.

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I haven't become a single drop gentler, I too am untranslatable, I shout my barbaric cries above the roofs of the world.

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The past and the present show signs - I filled them, I emptied them, And I go on to fill the nearest fold of the future.

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The one who learns to crush his master respects my style the best.

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You also ask me and I hear you, I answer that I cannot answer, you have to find out for yourself.

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Everything moves forward and outward, nothing falls out And to die is different than anyone would think, and more welcome.

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What we usually call poems are just pictures. Real poetry is born in men at night.

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I say: being a woman is just as big as being a man. I say: nothing is greater than being a mother.

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My friend, I extend my hand to you, I offer more goodness than money, I put myself first before worship and the law: Will you also give yourself to me? Are you coming with me? Will we stay together as long as we live?

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On foot and with a light heart I set out on the open road, Right, free, the world in front of me, Wherever the long brown thread leads me. I no longer ask for luck, I am luck myself, I no longer procrastinate, I do not delay, I lack nothing, There is no more trouble at home, doubt, cautious vacillation, I move healthily and contentedly on the open road. The earth is enough for me, I don't want to draw the guiding stars closer from the sky, I know where they are, they are in their place, I know they help those who belong to them.