Walt Whitman’s Inspirational Quotes from Leaves of Grass
I celebrate myself, and sing myself.
Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes.
The joy of a manly self-hood.
I loafe and invite my soul.
I exist as I amthat is enough.
To me, every hour of the day and night is an unspeakably perfect miracle.
I believe in you, my soul.
Afoot and lighthearted I take to the open road.
Keep your face always toward the sunshine.
Be curious, not judgmental.
I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don’t believe I deserved my friends.
The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity.
Do anything, but let it produce joy.
Not I, not anyone else can travel that road for you.
I sound my barbaric yawp over the rooftops of the world.
Now I see the secret of making the best persons. It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.
To me, old age is always fifteen years older than I am.
The most beautiful thing in the world is, of course, the world itself.
O public road, I say back I am not afraid to leave you, yet I love you.
Unscrew the locks from the doors! Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs!
The question, O me! So sad, recurring What good amid these, O me, O life?
All goes onward and outward…and nothing collapses.
The past and present wiltI have fill’d them, emptied them.
I understand the large hearts of heroes, The courage of present times and all times.
I am he bringing help for the sick as they pant on their backs.
I am the poet of the body and I am the poet of the soul.
Now if a thousand perfect men were to appear, it would not amaze me.
I resist any thing better than my own diversity.
I breathe the fragrance myself and know it and like it.
I swear to you, there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell.
Do you take it I would astonish? Does the daylight astonish? Does the early redstart twittering through the woods?
Forever alive, forever forward.
I am not to be denied.
In the true sense, one’s native land, with its background of tradition, early impressions, reminiscences and other things dear to one, is not enough to make sensitive human beings feel what home really means and seek it.
The soul and the body are not two separate parts, but two sides of the same whole.
One may have pure instinct without ever having been taught.
Nothing external to one can take him out of himself.
To be surrounded by warmth and nourishment is to be home.
The love of man and woman is a longing for home.
To touch with, not replace, the existing environment.
Take time to dwell with and reflect on the beauty of nature.
The earth breathes, flowers bloom, the world comes to life with a confident affection.
Relish in the splendor that is the human experience.
Be in the moment, and let everything else fade away.
Live boldly, without fear or hesitation.
Embrace the wildness within that connects us all.
Find joy in the smallest of everyday moments.
See the world with open eyes and an open heart.
Let your voice be heard, for it has power.
Love yourself, all your flaws and imperfections, and let that love radiate outwards.