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To have great poets, there must be great audiences.
Walt Whitman -
Whoever degrades another degrades me, And whatever is done or said returns at last to me.
Walt Whitman
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I refuse putting from me the best that I am.
Walt Whitman -
Society waits unformed and is between things ended and things begun.
Walt Whitman -
The proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it.
Walt Whitman -
And I will show that nothing can happen more beautiful than death.
Walt Whitman -
Sail Forth- Steer for the deep waters only. Reckless O soul, exploring. I with thee and thou with me. For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared go. And we will risk the ship, ourselves, and all.
Walt Whitman -
The real war will never get in the books.
Walt Whitman
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The wild gander leads his flock through the cool night, Ya-honk! he says, and sounds it down to me like an invitation: The pert may suppose it meaningless, but I listen closer, I find its purpose and place up there toward the November sky.
Walt Whitman -
Lo! the moon ascending!Up from the East, the silvery round moon;Beautiful over the house-tops, ghastly, phantom moon;Immense and silent moon.
Walt Whitman -
The great city is that which has the greatest man or woman: if it be a few ragged huts, it is still the greatest city in the whole world.
Walt Whitman -
When I give I give myself.
Walt Whitman -
Why are there trees I never walk under but large and melodious thoughts descend upon me?
Walt Whitman -
The whole theory of the universe is directed unerringly to one single individual.
Walt Whitman
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More and more too, the old name absorbs into me. Mannahatta, 'the place encircled by many swift tides and sparkling waters.' How fit a name for America's great democratic island city! The word itself, how beautiful! how aboriginal! how it seems to rise with tall spires, glistening in sunshine, with such New World atmosphere, vista and action!
Walt Whitman -
I say the real and permanent grandeur of these States must be their religion.
Walt Whitman -
Now obey thy cherished secret wish,Embrace thy friends-leave all in order;To port and hawser's tie no more returning,Depart upon thy endless cruise, old Sailor!
Walt Whitman -
Peace is always beautiful.
Walt Whitman -
When lilacs last in the door-yard bloomed,And the great star early drooped in the western sky in the night,I mourned, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.
Walt Whitman -
Give me the splendid silent sun, with all his beams full-dazzling!
Walt Whitman