walt whitman

“ To have great poets, there must be great audiences. ”

“ Why are there trees I never walk under but large and melodious thoughts descend upon me? ”

“ He sees eternity in men and women, he does not see men and women as dreams or dots. ”

“ A great poem is no finish to a man or woman but rather a beginning. ”

“ Oh, to be alive in such an age, when miracles are everywhere, and every inch of common air throbs a tremendous prophecy, of greater marvels yet to be. ”

“ In the faces of men and women, I see God. ”

“ Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you. ”

“ The proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it. ”

“ Was somebody asking to see the soul? ”

“ Forth from the war emerging, a book I have made, The words of my book nothing, the drift of it everything. ”