105 Walt Whitman Quotes From The Author Of 'Leaves Of Grass'

Walt Whitman was a humanist poet.

His most famous collection is called 'Leaves Of Grass'. His works include views of transcendentalism and realism which were prevalent in his era.

We have gathered the best Walt Whitman quotes from 'Leaves Of Grass' and his other works, so read on to find some great Walt Whitman transcendentalism quotes and even Walt Whitman baseball quotes!

If you like these Walt Whitman quotes, you might also like these  WH Auden quotes and TS Eliot quotes.
 

The Best Walt Whitman Quotes

Walt Whitman has been described as "America's poet... He is America." by Ezra Pound, what an achievement! These Walt Whitman quotes give us an insight into his poems. Which of these Walt Whitman quotes is your favorite?

1. "Resist much, obey little."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

2. "Do I contradict myself?

Very well then I contradict myself,

(I am large, I contain multitudes.)"

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

3."I have learned that to be with those I like is enough"

― Walt Whitman.

4. "Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

5."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."

― Walt Whitman.

6."Have you learned the lessons only of those who admired you, and were tender with you, and stood aside for you? Have you not learned great lessons from those who braced themselves against you, and disputed passage with you?"

-Walt Whitman.

7."Be curious, not judgmental."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

8."I am large, I contain multitudes."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

9."From imperfection’s murkiest cloud,

Darts always forth one ray of perfect light,

One flash of Heaven’s glory."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

10."Do anything, but let it produce joy."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

11."Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune"

― Walt Whitman.

12."Peace is always beautiful."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

13."Base-ball is our game: the American game: I connect it with our national character."

― Walt Whitman.

14."And as to me, I know nothing else but miracles."

― Walt Whitman.

15."Logic and sermons never convince,

The damp of the night drives deeper into my soul."

― Walt Whitman.

16."Battles are lost in the same spirit in which they are won."

― Walt Whitman.

17."I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,

I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world."

― Walt Whitman.

18."I am satisfied... I see, dance, laugh, sing."

― Walt Whitman.

19. "... is that the President? Then I will sleep awhile yet, for I see that these States sleep."

― Walt Whitman.

Walt Whitman Love Quotes

Walt Whitman was credited as the most important poet of the American Romantic movement.  Here are some beautiful Walt Whitman quotes about love.

20. "Long enough have you dream'd contemptible dreams,

Now I wash the gum from your eyes,

You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the light

and of every moment of your life."

― Walt Whitman.

21. "Only themselves understand themselves and the like of themselves,

As souls only understand souls."

― Walt Whitman.

22. "Give me the splendid, silent sun with all his beams full-dazzling."

― Walt Whitman.

23. "I believe in all that—in baseball, in picnics, in freedom."

― Walt Whitman.

24. "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.

25. "Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged, Missing me one place search another, I stop somewhere waiting for you."

― Walt Whitman.

26."Your very flesh shall be a great poem..."

― Walt Whitman.

27. "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.

28. "Touch me, touch the palm of your hand to my body as I pass,

Be not afraid of my body."

― Walt Whitman.

29. "We were together. I forget the rest."

― Walt Whitman.

30. "If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles."

― Walt Whitman.

31."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.

32. "I will sleep no more but arise, You oceans that have been calm within me! how I feel you, fathomless, stirring, preparing unprecedented waves and storms."

― Walt Whitman.

33. "I will You, in all, Myself, with a promise to never desert you,

To which I sign my name."

― Walt Whitman.

34. "Storming, enjoying, planning, loving, cautioning,

Backing and filling, appearing and disappearing,

I tread day and night such roads."

― Walt Whitman.

35. "Be not dishearten'd - Affection shall solve the problems of Freedom yet; Those who love each other shall become invincible."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

36. "If you see a good deal remarkable in me I see just as much remarkable in you. Why what have you thought of yourself? Is it you then that thought yourself less?"

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

Walt Whitman Nature Quotes

Are you enjoying these Walt Whitman quotes? Find beautiful Walt Whitman quotes on nature here.

37. "Loafe with me on the grass—loose the stop from your throat."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

38. "I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

39."I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars,"

― Walt Whitman.

40."Now I am terrified at the Earth, it is that calm and patient."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

41. "A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands; How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he."

― Walt Whitman.

42. "I am an acme of things accomplish’d, and I an encloser of things to be."

Walt Whitman.

43. "And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men."

― Walt Whitman.

44. "I hear the bravuras of birds... the bustle of growing wheat... gossip of flames... clack of sticks cooking my meals."

― Walt Whitman.

45. "This dust was once the man."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

46. "O harsh surrounding cloud that will not free my soul."

― Walt Whitman.

47. "All architecture is what you do to it when you look upon it."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

48. "I resist anything better than my own diversity, And breathe the air and leave plenty after me."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

Walt Whitman Quotes About Death

Some Walt Whitman quotes teach us the meaning of life. His quotes on death are rational and highlight the value of life. These special Walt Whitman quotes are from Whitman poems.

49."Ah the dead to me mar not, they fit well in Nature,

And along the edge of the sky in the horizon's far margin."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

50. "And to die is different from what anyone supposed, and luckier."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

51. "Has anyone supposed it lucky to be born? I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die, and I know it."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

Walt Whitman Famous Quotes

Walt Whitman quotes on life, simplicity, art, giving, happiness, strength, and many aspects of human life are a true gift. Enjoy these Walt Whitman quotes.

52. "Do not descend amongst professors or capitalists."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

53. "There is that in me—I do not know what it is—but I know it is in me."

-Walt Whitman.

54. "Of Equality–as if it harm’d me, giving others the same chances and rights as myself.h"

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

55. "All beauty comes from beautiful blood and a beautiful brain."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

56. "I can repay you."

― Walt Whitman.

57."And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves."

― Walt Whitman.

58. "Where is what I started for so long ago?

And why is it yet unfound?"

― Walt Whitman.

59. "I think I will do nothing for a long time but listen,

And accrue what I hear into myself… and let sound contribute toward me."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

60. "Strangle the singers who will not sing you loud and strong."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

61. "In all people I see myself, none more and not one a barley-corn less,

And the good or bad I say of myself I say of them."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

62. "The sum of all known value and respect, I add up in you, whoever you are."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

63. "Behold I do not give lectures or a little charity, when I give I give myself."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

64. "The pleasures of heaven are with me, and the pains of heck are with me."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

65. "Clear and sweet is my soul, and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

66. "Whatever satisfies the soul is truth."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

67. "Agonies are one of my changes of garments."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

68. "I am as bad as the worst, but, thank God, I am as good as the best."

― Walt Whitman.

69. "I have distanced what is behind me for good reasons,

And call anything close again when I desire it."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

70. "Worse and worse... Can't you stand it? Are you retreating?

Is this hour with the living too dead for you?"

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

71. "What do I know of life? what of myself?

I know not even my own work past or present."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

72. "Wisdom is of the soul, is not susceptible of proof, is its own proof."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

73. "The words of my book nothing, the drift of it everything."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

74. "Re-examine all you have been told. Dismiss what insults your soul."

― Walt Whitman.

75. "The myth of heaven indicates peace and night."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

76. "Creeds and schools in abeyance,

Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,"

― Walt Whitman.

77. "The greater the reform needed, the greater the personality you need to accomplish it."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

78. "Allons! to that which is endless as it was beginningless."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

More Walt Whitman Poetry Quotes

Some more Walt Whitman quotes from poems (including Walt Whitman 'Song Of Myself' quotes) are listed below. Which of these Walt Whitman quotes is your favorite?

79. "Of all races and eras these States with veins full of poetical stuff most need poets."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

80. "I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person."

- Walt Whitman.

81. "To have great poets, there must be great audiences."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

82. "A great poem is no finish to a man or woman but rather a beginning."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

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

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

84."The known universe has one complete lover and that is the greatest poet."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

85. "Happiness, not in another place, but this place not for another hour, but for this hour."

—Walt Whitman.

86. "Pointing to another world will never stop vice among us; shedding light over this world can alone help us."

― Walt Whitman.

87. "The strongest and sweetest songs yet remain to be sung."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

88. "Whoever walks a furlong without sympathy walks to his own funeral drest in his shroud."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

89. "The law of the  past, present, and future can't be eluded."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

90. "Why are there trees I never walk under but large and melodious thoughts descend upon me?"

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

91. "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."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

92. "Was somebody asking to see the soul?"

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

93. "I exist as I am, that is enough,

If not other in the world be aware I sit content,

And if each and all be aware I sit content."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

94. I see that the elementary laws never apologize."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

95.

"Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, 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.

96. "I am he that walks with the tender and growing night,

I call to the earth and sea half-held by the night."

― Walt Whitman, 'Leaves Of Grass'.

97. "If anything is sacred the human body is sacred."

– Walt Whitman.

98. "The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity."

― Walt Whitman.

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

― Walt Whitman.

100."In the faces of men and women, I see God."

– Walt Whitman.

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

― Walt Whitman.

102. "The clock indicates the moment—but what does eternity indicate?"

― Walt Whitman.

103. "I am an acme of things accomplished, and I an encloser of things to be."

― Walt Whitman.

104. “I discover myself on the verge of a usual mistake.”

― Walt Whitman, 'Song Of Myself.'

105. "I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,

Nature without check with original energy."

― Walt Whitman.

At Kidadl, we have created lots of family-friendly quotes for everyone! If you liked these Walt Whitman quotes, why not check out Langston Hughes quotes, or [Kerouac quotes] too?