"And your very flesh shall be a great poem."

-WALT WHITMAN

"It is a beautiful truth that all men contain something of the artist in them. And perhaps it is the case that the greatest artists live and die, the world and themselves alike ignorant what they possess. ... I think of few heroic actions, which cannot be traced to the artistic impulse. He who does great deeds does them from his innate sensitiveness to moral beauty."

- WALT WHITMAN

"I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work 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'oeuvre of the highest...
And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels."

-WALT WHITMAN

“I celebrate myself, and sing myself.”

-WALT WHITMAN

“Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes.”

-WALT WHITMAN

“This is what you shall do: 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, 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, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school, church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults you 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