"And whoever walks a furlong without sympathy walks to his own funeral drest in his shroud."

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

"I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I loveIf you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.You will hardly know who I am or what I meanBut I shall be good health to you nonethelessAnd filter and fibre your blood."

"WE two boys together clinging,One the other never leaving,Up and down the roads going, North and South excursions making,Power enjoying, elbows stretching, fingers clutching,Arm'd and fearless, eating, drinking, sleeping, loving.No law less than ourselves owning, sailing, soldiering, thieving,threatening,Misers, menials, priests alarming, air breathing, water drinking, onthe turf or the sea-beach dancing,Cities wrenching, ease scorning, statutes mocking, feeblenesschasing,Fulfilling our foray."

"All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses, And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier."

"Poets to ComePOETS to come! orators, singers, musicians to come!Not to-day is to justify me, and answer what I am for;But you, a new brood, native, athletic, continental, greater than before known,Arouse! Arousefor you must justify meyou must answer.I myself but write one or two indicative words for the future,I but advance a moment, only to wheel and hurry back in the darkness.I am a man who, sauntering along, without fully stopping, turns a casual look upon you, and then averts his face,Leaving it to you to prove and define it,Expecting the main things from you."

"He most honors my style who learns under it to destroy the teacher."

"Now I see the secret of making the best person: it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth."

"I discover myself on the verge of a usual mistake."

"I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contain'd, I stand and look at them long and 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 unhappy over the whole earth."

"Other lands have their vitality in a few, a class, but we have it in the bulk of our people."

"To the real artist in humanity, what are called bad manners are often the most picturesque and significant of all."

"I like the scientific spirit-the holding off, the being sure but not too sure, the willingness to surrender ideas when the evidence is against them: this is ultimately fine-it always keeps the way beyond open-always gives life, thought, affection, the whole man, a chance to try over again after a mistake-after a wrong guess."

"The whole theory of the universe is directed unerringly to one single individual."

"The port is near the bells I hear the people all exulting While follow eyes the steady keel the vessel grim and daring But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red Where on the deck my captain lies Fallen cold and dead."

"Resist much, obey little."

"Or may-be one who is puzzled at me.As if I were not puzzled at myself!"

"I swear to you the architects shall appear without fall, I swear to you they will understand you and justify you, The greatest among them shall be he who best knows you, and encloses all and is faithful to all, He and the rest shall not forget you, they shall perceive that you are not an iota less than they, You shall be fully glorified in them."

"Urge and urge and urge,Always the procreant urge of the world."

"I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least, Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself."

"Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems,You shall possess the good of the earth and sun.... there are millions of suns left,You shall no longer take things at second or third hand.... nor look through the eyes of the dead.... nor feed on the spectres in books,You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,You shall listen to all sides and filter them from yourself."

"The press of my foot to the earth springs a hundred affections,They scorn the best I can do to relate them."

"When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd And the great star early droop'd in the western sky the night I mourn'd - and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring."

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

"I am of old and young, of the foolish as much as the wise,Regardless of others, ever regardful of others,Maternal as well as paternal, a child as well as a man,Stuffed with the stuff that is course, and stuffed with the stuff that is fine, one of the nation, of many nations, the smallest the same and the the largest."

"Whatever satisfies the soul is truth."

"Henceforth I ask not good fortune. I myself am good fortune."

"Seeing, hearing, feeling, are miracles, and each part and tag of me is a miracle."

"I am larger, better than I thought; I did not know I held so much goodness.All seems beautiful to me.Whoever denies me, it shall not trouble me; Whoever accepts me, he or she shall be blessed, and shall bless me."

"Song of MyselfI have heard what the talkers were talking, the talk of the beginning and the end, But I do not talk of the beginning or the end. There was never any more inception than there is now, Nor any more youth or age than there is now, And will never be any more perfection than there is now, Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now."

"What do you think has become of the young and old men? And what do you think has become of the women and children? They are alive and well somewhere, The smallest sprout shows there is really no death, And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it, And ceas'd the moment life appear'd. All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses, And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier."

"When I give I give myself."

"Song of myselfWith music strong I come, with my cornets and my drums, I play not marches for accepted victors only, I play marches for conquer'd and slain persons. 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. I beat and pound for the dead, I blow through my embouchures my loudest and gayest for them. Vivas to those who have fail'd! And to those whose war-vessels sank in the sea! And to those themselves who sank in the sea! And to all generals that lost engagements, and all overcome heroes! And the numberless unknown heroes equal to the greatest heroes known!"

"The genius of the United States is not best or most in its executives or legislatures, nor in its ambassadors or authors or colleges, or churches, or parlors, nor even in its newspapers or inventors, but always most in the common people."

"And I or you pocketless of a dime, may purchase the pick of the earth."

"Poor boy! I never knew you, Yet I think I could not refuse this moment to die for you, if that would save you."

"Judging from the main portions of the history of the world, so far, justice is always in jeopardy."

"To have great poets there must be great audiences too."

"Out of every fruition of success no matter what comes forth something to make a new effort necessary."

"I act as the tongue of you,... tied in your mouth . . . . in mine it begins to be loosened."

"Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself (I am large I contain multitudes)."

"The beauty of independence, departure, actions that rely on themselves."

"Argue not concerning God, re-examine all that you have been told at church or school or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your soul."

"The great city is that which has the greatest man or woman: if it be a few ragged huts, it is still the greatest city in the whole world."

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

"The shallow consider liberty a release from all law, from every constraint. The wise man sees in it, on the contrary, the potent Law of Laws."

"God is a mean-spirited, pugnacious bully bent on revenge against His children for failing to live up to his impossible standards."

"Let that which stood in front go behind, let that which was behind advance to the front, let bigots, fools, unclean persons, offer new propositions, let the old propositions be postponed."

"And I will show that nothing can happen more beautiful than death."

"I do not snivel that snivel the world over,That months are vacuums and the ground but wallow and filth,That life is a suck and a sell, and nothing remains at the end but threadbare crape and tears."