Walter Whitman was an American poet, essayist, and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. His work was controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sensuality. Whitman’s own life came under scrutiny for his presumed homosexuality. This Walt Whitman quotes will motivate you.
Best Walt Whitman Quotes
- “Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “Either define the moment or the moment will define you.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “Happiness, not in another place but this place…not for another hour, but this hour.” ~ Walt Whitman, Walt Whitman quotes on happiness
- “This is what you should do: love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men … re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss what insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem.” ~ Walt Whitman
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“Every hour of every day is an unspeakably perfect miracle.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “When one reaches out to help another he touches the face of God.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “We were together. I forget the rest.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “The truth is simple. If it was complicated, everyone would understand it.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “Be curious, not judgmental.” ~ Walt Whitman
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“Re-examine all that you have been told… dismiss that which insults your soul.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “As for me, I know nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,
Or stand under the trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with any one I love,
Or sleep in bed at night with any one I love,
Or watch honey bees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon…
Or the wonderfulness of the sundown,
Or of stars shining so quiet and bright,
Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring…
What stranger miracles are there?” ~ Walt Whitman -
“It is only the novice in political economy who thinks it is the duty of government to make its citizens happy – government has no such office.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “There is no week nor day nor hour when tyranny may not enter upon this country, if the people lose their roughness and spirit of defiance.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “The earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at first; Be not discouraged – keep on – there are divine things, well envelop’d; I swear to you there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “I have learned that to be with those I like is enough.” ~ Walt Whitman
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“The future is no more uncertain than the present.” ~ 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
- “The genius of the United States is not best or most in its executives or legislatures, nor in its ambassadors or authors or colleges, or churches, or parlors, nor even in its newspapers or inventors, but always most in the common people.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “Do anything, but let it produce joy.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “The whole purpose of the universe is unerringly aimed at one thing – you.” ~ Walt Whitman
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“I exist as I am, that is enough.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “All the things of the universe are perfect miracles, each as profound as any.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “I hate commas in the wrong places.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “Resist much, obey little.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “The gift is to the giver, and comes back most to him – it cannot fail” ~ Walt Whitman
- “NOT I – NOT ANYONE else, can travel that road for you, You must travel it for yourself.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “These are the days that must happen to you.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “The ecstasy is so short but the forgetting is so long.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “The powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.” ~ Walt Whitman
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“If you done it, it ain’t bragging.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “Simplicity is the glory of expression.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “Those who love each other shall become invincible.” ~ Walt Whitman, Walt Whitman quotes on love
- “I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “I swear to you, there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell” ~ Walt Whitman
- “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.” ~ Walt Whitman
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“I and this mystery, here we stand.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “I dream in my dreams all the dreams of the other dreamers.
And I become the other dreamers.” ~ Walt Whitman - “The secret of it all, is to write in the gush, the throb, the flood, of the moment – to put things down without deliberation – without worrying about their style – without waiting for a fit time or place. I always worked that way. I took the first scrap of paper, the first doorstep, the first desk, and wrote – wrote, wrote…By writing at the instant the very heartbeat of life is caught.” ~ Walt Whitman
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“Now, Voyager, sail thou forth, to seek and find.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “Every moment of light and dark is a miracle.” ~ 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
- “I think I could turn and live with the animals, they are so placid and self-contained; I stand and look at them long and long. They do not sweat and whine about their condition; They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins; They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God; Not one is dissatisfied-not one is demented with the mania of owning things; Not one kneels to another, nor his kind that lived thousands of years ago; Not one is responsible or industrious over the whole earth.” ~ Walt Whitman
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“I am not contain’d between my hat and boots.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “Love the earth and sun and animals, Despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, Stand up for the stupid and crazy, Devote your income and labor to others… And your very flesh shall be a great poem.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don’t believe I deserved my friends.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “The President eats dirt and excrement for his daily meals, likes it and tries to force it on The States.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “Whatever satisfies the soul is truth.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “O captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done. The ship has weather’d every wrack The prize we sought is won The port is near, the bells I hear The people all exulting While follow eyes, the steady keel The vessel grim and daring But Heart! Heart! Heart! O the bleeding drops of red Where on the deck my captain lies Fallen cold and dead.” ~ Walt Whitman
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“Dismiss whatever insults your soul.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “Some people are so much sunshine to the square inch.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “Wisdom is not finally tested by the 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.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “Each of us inevitable; Each of us limitless-each of us with his or her right upon the earth.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “What is that you express in your eyes? It seems to me more than all the print I have read in my life.” ~ Walt Whitman, Walt Whitman quotes on life
- “You have not known what you are – you have slumber’d upon yourself all your life; Your eye-lids have been the same as closed most of the time; What you have done returns already in mockeries; Your thrift, knowledge, prayers, if they do not return in mockeries, what is their return? The mockeries are not you; Underneath them, and within them, I see you lurk.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “Without enough wilderness America will change. Democracy, with its myriad personalities and increasing sophistication, must be fibred and vitalized by regular contact with outdoor growths – animals, trees, sun warmth and free skies – or it will dwindle and pale.” ~ Walt Whitman
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“To me, every hour of the light and dark is a miracle. Every cubic inch of space is a miracle.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “Re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, 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 face, and between the lashes of your eyes, and in every motion and joint of your body.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “In the faces of men and women, I see God.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “God is a mean-spirited, pugnacious bully bent on revenge against His children for failing to live up to his impossible standards.” ~ Walt Whitman
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“We convince by our presence.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “I am not to speak to you, I 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.” ~ Walt Whitman
- “I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journeywork of the stars, And the pismire is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren, And the tree toad is a chef-d’oeurve for the highest, And the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven, And the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery, And the cow crunching with depress’d head surpasses any statue, And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels!” ~ Walt Whitman
- “The earth does not argue, Is not pathetic, has no arrangements, Does not scream, haste, persuade, threaten, promise, Makes no discriminations, has no conceivable failures, Closes nothing, refuses nothing, shuts none out.” ~ Walt Whitman
