The Quotes canon
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Every quote has been curated by hand and carefully authenticated.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
America2 quotes
America, if eligible at all to downfall and ruin, is eligible within herself, not without. — Walt Whitman · 1871The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem. — Walt Whitman · 1855Loving oneself2 quotes
I celebrate myself, and sing myself. — Walt Whitman · 1855I celebrate myself and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass. — Walt Whitman · 1855Abraham Lincoln1 quote
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting. — Walt Whitman · 1865American Civil War1 quote
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting. — Walt Whitman · 1865American decline1 quote
America, if eligible at all to downfall and ruin, is eligible within herself, not without. — Walt Whitman · 1871Animals1 quote
I think I could turn and live ahile with te animals, they are so placid and self-contain'd,
I stand and look at them sometimes half the day long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied...not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or industrious over the whole earth. — Walt Whitman · 1855Balance1 quote
O to be self-balanced for contingencies,
To confront night, storms, hunger, ridicule, accidents, rebuffs, as the trees and animals do. — Walt Whitman · 1867Battle1 quote
Have you heard that it was good to gain the day?
I also say it is good to fall, battles are lost in the same spirit in which they are won. — Walt Whitman · 1855Being prepared1 quote
O to be self-balanced for contingencies,
To confront night, storms, hunger, ridicule, accidents, rebuffs, as the trees and animals do. — Walt Whitman · 1867Big vs. small1 quote
I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars. — Walt Whitman · 1855Body as a temple1 quote
If anything is sacred the human body is sacred. — Walt Whitman · 1855Charity1 quote
This is what you shall do: 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, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God. — Walt Whitman · 1855Cities1 quote
A great city is that which has the greatest men and women,
If it be a few ragged huts it is still the greatest city in the whole world. — Walt Whitman · 1867Civic duty1 quote
Always vote. — Walt Whitman · 1871Contradiction1 quote
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.) — Walt Whitman · 1855Democracy1 quote
It is a great word, whose history, I suppose, remains unwritten, because that history has yet to be enacted. — Walt Whitman · 1871Economic equality1 quote
The greatest country, the richest country, is not that which has the most capitalists, monopolists, immense grabbings, vast fortunes, with its sad, sad foil of extreme, degrading, damning poverty, but the land in which there are the most homesteads, freeholds-where wealth does not show such contrasts high and low, where all men have enough-a modest living-and no man is made possessor beyond the sane and beautiful necessities of the simple body and the simple soul. — Walt Whitman · 1888Experiencing things1 quote
When I heard the learn'd astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars. — Walt Whitman · 1867Failure1 quote
Have you heard that it was good to gain the day?
I also say it is good to fall, battles are lost in the same spirit in which they are won. — Walt Whitman · 1855Grass1 quote
I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars. — Walt Whitman · 1855Human body1 quote
If anything is sacred the human body is sacred. — Walt Whitman · 1855Human nature1 quote
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.) — Walt Whitman · 1855Inconsistency1 quote
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.) — Walt Whitman · 1855Loving others1 quote
This is what you shall do: 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, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God. — Walt Whitman · 1855Man and animals1 quote
I think I could turn and live ahile with te animals, they are so placid and self-contain'd,
I stand and look at them sometimes half the day long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied...not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or industrious over the whole earth. — Walt Whitman · 1855Miracles1 quote
To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every cubic inch of space is a miracle. — Walt Whitman · 1867National greatness1 quote
The greatest country, the richest country, is not that which has the most capitalists, monopolists, immense grabbings, vast fortunes, with its sad, sad foil of extreme, degrading, damning poverty, but the land in which there are the most homesteads, freeholds-where wealth does not show such contrasts high and low, where all men have enough-a modest living-and no man is made possessor beyond the sane and beautiful necessities of the simple body and the simple soul. — Walt Whitman · 1888Politics1 quote
Always vote. — Walt Whitman · 1871Progress1 quote
We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger,
We the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend,
Pioneers! O pioneers! — Walt Whitman · 1867Self-expression1 quote
I celebrate myself, and sing myself. — Walt Whitman · 1855