Whitman Selections and Quotes
O Me! O Life!
Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more
faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer.
That you are here—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
Whitman Quotes
“Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.”
“Every moment of light and dark is a miracle.”
“I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.”
“If any thing is sacred, the human body is sacred.
“I celebrate myself;
And what I assume you shall assume;
For every atom belonging to me, as good belongs to you.”
"And your very flesh shall be a great poem.”
"Be curious, not judgmental."
"I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don't believe I deserved my friends."
"The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem."
“Not I - not anyone else, can travel that road for you, / You must travel it for yourself.”
“In the confusion we stay with each other, happy to be together, speaking without uttering a
single word.”
‘O you whom I often and silently come where you are, that I may be with you’
As I walk by your side, or sit near, or remain in the same room with you,
Little you know the subtle electric fire that for your sake is playing within me.’
“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, 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 or church or in any
book, dismiss whatever insults your 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.”