Looking for quotes by the famous poet Walt Whitman? We have rounded up the best collection of Walt Whitman quotes, sayings, messages, and poems, (with images and pictures) from one of the most influential poets in the American canon.
Walter Whitman was an American poet, journalist, and essayist. Besides being a poet, Walter was also a humanist, he incorporated transcendentalism and realism in his works.
Whitman is among one of the greatest poets in the history of American literature, often referred to as the father of free verse.
His most popular work is called “Leaves of Grass”, a poetry collection that throws light on his views about life and humanity. It was published in 1855 with his own money and became one of the most commendable literary works.
Also See: Marcus Aurelius Quotes
Through his works, Whitman spoke about the beauty in the world, about being free, about love, and about feeling who you are.
Although some of his works were considered controversial for their overt sensuality, Whitman still remains one of the prominent American poets.
Also See: Deep Philosophical Quotes
Whitman’s influence on poetry remains strong and has been called “America’s poet … He is America.” by modernist poet Ezra Pound.
These popular and deep Walt Whitman quotes will inspire you to overcome any struggle in your life and will help you understand the true meaning of life.
Top 10 Walt Whitman Quotes
- “Be curious, not judgmental.” – Walt Whitman
Famous Walt Whitman Quotes
- “Whatever satisfies the soul is truth.” – Walt Whitman
- “I have learned that to be with those I like is enough.” – Walt Whitman
- “Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes.” – Walt Whitman
- “I am as bad as the worst, but, thank God, I am as good as the best.” – Walt Whitman
- “To me, every hour of the day and night is an unspeakably perfect miracle.” – Walt Whitman
- “I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don’t believe I deserved my friends.” – Walt Whitman
- “Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.” – Walt Whitman
Best Walt Whitman Quotes
- “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.” – Walt Whitman
- “Oh while I live, to be the ruler of life, not a slave, to meet life as a powerful conqueror, and nothing exterior to me will ever take command of me.” – Walt Whitman
Best Walt Whitman Quotes
These famous Walt Whitman quotes will give you an insight into strength, simplicity, happiness, giving, art, and on the value of human life.
- “I can repay you.” – Walt Whitman
- “Resist much, obey little.” – Walt Whitman
- “Peace is always beautiful.” – Walt Whitman
quotes by walt whitman
- “If you done it, it ain’t bragging.” – Walt Whitman
- “I am large, I contain multitudes.” – Walt Whitman
- “Night, sleep, death and the stars.” – Walt Whitman
- “Do anything, but let it produce joy.” – Walt Whitman
- “Simplicity is the glory of expression.” – Walt Whitman
walt whitman quotes images
- “I am satisfied… I see, dance, laugh, sing.” – Walt Whitman
- “It makes such difference where you read.” – Walt Whitman
- “These are the days that must happen to you.” – Walt Whitman
- “There is no God any more divine than Yourself.” – Walt Whitman
- “And as to me, I know nothing else but miracles.” – Walt Whitman
- “Do not descend amongst professors or capitalists.” – Walt Whitman
- “Battles are lost in the same spirit in which they are won.” – Walt Whitman
- “The powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.” – Walt Whitman
- “All beauty comes from beautiful blood and a beautiful brain.” – Walt Whitman
- “Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune.” – Walt Whitman
- “There is that in me—I do not know what it is—but I know it is in me.” – Walt Whitman
- “The beauty of independence, departure, actions that rely on themselves.” – Walt Whitman
- “I swear to you, there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell.” – Walt Whitman
- “Base-ball is our game: the American game: I connect it with our national character.” – Walt Whitman
- “… is that the President? Then I will sleep awhile yet, for I see that these States sleep.” – Walt Whitman
- “Of Equality–as if it harm’d me, giving others the same chances and rights as myself.” – Walt Whitman
- “Logic and sermons never convince, The damp of the night drives deeper into my soul.” – Walt Whitman
- “All I mark as my own you shall offset it with your own, else it were time lost listening to me.” – Walt Whitman
- “Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)” – Walt Whitman
- “I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard, Nature without check with original energy.” – Walt Whitman
- “I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.” – Walt Whitman
- “From imperfection’s murkiest cloud, Darts always forth one ray of perfect light, One flash of Heaven’s glory.” – – Walt Whitman
- “A heroic person walks at his ease through and out of that custom or precedent or authority that suits him not.” – Walt Whitman
- “Not I, nor anyone else can travel that road for you. You must travel it by yourself. It is not far. It is within reach.” – Walt Whitman
- “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
- “The road to wisdom is paved with excess. The mark of a true writer is their ability to mystify the familiar and familiarize the strange.” – Walt Whitman
- “Have you learned the lessons only of those who admired you, and were tender with you, and stood aside for you? Have you not learned great lessons from those who braced themselves against you, and disputed passage with you?” – Walt Whitman
Famous Walt Whitman Love Quotes
Walt Whitman expresses love beautifully through his poems. Even today, many literary figures quote Whitman’s love poems to express their emotions.Whitman as a poet played an important role in the American Romantic movement.
Few of his masterpieces include ‘As If a Phantom Caress’d Me’, ‘Fast Anchor’d Eternal O Love!’, ‘Once I Pass’d Through a Populous City’, ‘Sometimes with One I Love’, and ‘. To a Stranger’.
Here is a list of some beautiful Walt Whitman quotes about love.
- “We were together. I forget the rest.” – Walt Whitman
walt whitman love quotes
- “Your very flesh shall be a great poem…” – Walt Whitman
- “I refuse putting from me the best that I am.” – Walt Whitman
- “To me, every cubic inch of space is a miracle.” – Walt Whitman
- “I discover myself on the verge of a usual mistake.” – Walt Whitman
- “The future is no more uncertain than the present.” – Walt Whitman
- “I believe in all that—in baseball, in picnics, in freedom.” – Walt Whitman
- “If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.” – Walt Whitman
- “Henceforth I ask not good fortune. I myself am good fortune.” – Walt Whitman
- “Give me the splendid, silent sun with all his beams full-dazzling.” – Walt Whitman
- “When one reaches out to help another he touches the face of God.” – Walt Whitman
- “The truth is simple. If it was complicated, everyone would understand it.” – Walt Whitman
- “Happiness, not in another place but this place…not for another hour, but this hour.” – Walt Whitman
walt whitman quotes happiness
- “I will You, in all, Myself, with a promise to never desert you, To which I sign my name.” – Walt Whitman
- “Touch me, touch the palm of your hand to my body as I pass, Be not afraid of my body.” – Walt Whitman
- “Only themselves understand themselves and the like of themselves, As souls only understand souls.” – Walt Whitman
- “What is that you express in your eyes? It seems to me more than all the print I have read in my life.” – Walt Whitman
- “Judging from the main portions of the history of the world, so far, justice is always in jeopardy.” – Walt Whitman
- “In the confusion we stay with each other, happy to be together, speaking without uttering a single word.” – Walt Whitman
- “The past and the present wilt. I have filled them, emptied them, And proceed to fill my next fold of the future.” – Walt Whitman
- “To the real artist in humanity, what are called bad manners are often the most picturesque and significant of all. ” – Walt Whitman
- “My voice goes after what my eyes cannot reach, with the twirl of my tongue I encompass words and volumes of words.” – Walt Whitman
- “Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged, Missing me one place search another, I stop somewhere waiting for you.” – Walt Whitman
- “Be not dishearten’d – Affection shall solve the problems of Freedom yet; Those who love each other shall become invincible.” – Walt Whitman
- “Stranger, if you passing meet me and desire to speak to me, why should you not speak to me? And why should I not speak to you?” – Walt Whitman
- “I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.” – Walt Whitman
- “Storming, enjoying, planning, loving, cautioning, Backing and filling, appearing and disappearing, I tread day and night such roads.” – Walt Whitman
- “I will sleep no more but arise, You oceans that have been calm within me! how I feel you, fathomless, stirring, preparing unprecedented waves and storms.” – Walt Whitman
- “If you see a good deal remarkable in me I see just as much remarkable in you. Why what have you thought of yourself? Is it you then that thought yourself less?” – Walt Whitman
- “Long enough have you dream’d contemptible dreams, Now I wash the gum from your eyes, You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the light and of every moment of your life.” – Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman Quotes On Life & Death
Whitman viewed death not as an end but he viewed it as a new beginning, renewal and life. He saw death from the perspective of a phoenix – that means each death brings new life.
In his poems ‘This Compost’ and ‘Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking’, Whitman gives his unique interpretation of life and death.
If you are enjoying these Walt Whitman quotes then check our collection of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Rumi quotes help you realize all the positivity, power and beauty within you.
- “Agonies are one of my changes of garments.” – Walt Whitman
- “The myth of heaven indicates peace and night.” – Walt Whitman
- “Nothing can happen more beautiful than death. ” – Walt Whitman
- “Allons! to that which is endless as it was beginningless.” – Walt Whitman
- “The words of my book nothing, the drift of it everything.” – Walt Whitman
- “And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves.” – Walt Whitman
- “When the materials are ready, the architects shall appear.” – Walt Whitman
- “There will never be any more perfection than there is now.” – Walt Whitman
walt whitman quotes
- “Strangle the singers who will not sing you loud and strong.” – Walt Whitman
- “The words of my book are nothing, the drift of it everything.” – Walt Whitman
- “From this hour, freedom! Going where I like, my own master…” – Walt Whitman
- “And to die is different from what anyone supposed, and luckier.” – Walt Whitman
- “Wisdom is of the soul, is not susceptible of proof, is its own proof.” – Walt Whitman
- “Sure as Life holds all parts together, Death holds all parts together.” – Walt Whitman
- “Re-examine all you have been told. Dismiss what insults your soul.” – Walt Whitman
- “Where is what I started for so long ago? And why is it yet unfound?” – Walt Whitman
- “The pleasures of heaven are with me, and the pains of heck are with me.” – Walt Whitman
- “Clear and sweet is my soul, and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul.” – Walt Whitman
- “Behold I do not give lectures or a little charity, when I give I give myself.” – Walt Whitman
- “I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least.” – Walt Whitman
- “The sum of all known value and respect, I add up in you, whoever you are.” – Walt Whitman
- “Whoever is not in his coffin and the dark grave, let him know he has enough.” – Walt Whitman
- “I do not say these things for a dollar, or to fill up the time while I wait for a boat;” – Walt Whitman
- “To know the universe itself as a road, as many roads, as roads for traveling souls.” – Walt Whitman
- “And that all the things of the universe are perfect miracles, each as profound as any.” – Walt Whitman
- “The greater the reform needed, the greater the personality you need to accomplish it.” – Walt Whitman
- “What do I know of life? what of myself? I know not even my own work past or present.” – Walt Whitman
- “I have distanced what is behind me for good reasons, And call anything close again when I desire it.” – Walt Whitman
- “Creeds and schools in abeyance, Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,” – Walt Whitman
- “Worse and worse… Can’t you stand it? Are you retreating? Is this hour with the living too dead for you?” – Walt Whitman
- “Ah the dead to me mar not, they fit well in Nature, And along the edge of the sky in the horizon’s far margin.” – Walt Whitman
- “Has anyone supposed it lucky to be born? I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die, and I know it.” – Walt Whitman
- “In all people I see myself, none more and not one a barley-corn less, And the good or bad I say of myself I say of them.” – Walt Whitman
- “I think I will do nothing for a long time but listen, And accrue what I hear into myself… and let sound contribute toward me.” – Walt Whitman
- “It seems to me that everything in the light and air ought to be happy; / Whoever is not in his coffin and the dark grave, let him know he has enough.” – Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman Quotes On Nature
Walt Whitman’s every work had one common factor in them – they reflected the natural world, be it the season, landscapes, plants, animals, grass, or flowers.
He believed that humans were a part of nature and they would continue to be a part even after death.
These meaningful quotes from Walt Whitman will give you an insight into his poems that highlights his views on nature.
- “This dust was once the man.” – Walt Whitman
- “A blade of grass is the journeywork of the stars.” – Walt Whitman
- “O harsh surrounding cloud that will not free my soul.” – Walt Whitman
- “Either define the moment or the moment will define you.” – Walt Whitman
quotes from walt whitman
- “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love.” – Walt Whitman
- “Now I am terrified at the Earth, it is that calm and patient.” – Walt Whitman
- “And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men.” – Walt Whitman
- “All architecture is what you do to it when you look upon it.” – Walt Whitman
- “Loafe with me on the grass—loose the stop from your throat.” – Walt Whitman
- “I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars,” – Walt Whitman
- “I am an acme of things accomplish’d, and I an encloser of things to be.” – Walt Whitman
- “I resist anything better than my own diversity, And breathe the air and leave plenty after me.” – Walt Whitman
- “I hear the bravuras of birds… the bustle of growing wheat… gossip of flames… clack of sticks cooking my meals.” – Walt Whitman
- “A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands; How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he.” – Walt Whitman
- “After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on – have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear – what remains? Nature remains.” – Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman Poetry Quotes
Whitman with his innovative free verse carved the way to a new, distinctly American literature. Some of his greatest poems include ‘Song of Myself’, ‘I Sing the Body Electric’, ‘I Hear America Singing’, ‘O Captain! My Captain!’, and ‘A Noiseless Patient Spider’.
Whitman had a strong influence on poetry. Here is some more Walt Whitman quotes from poems listed below.
- “In the faces of men and women, I see God.” – Walt Whitman
- “If anything is sacred the human body is sacred.” – Walt Whitman
- “Was somebody asking to see the soul?” – Walt Whitman, ‘Leaves Of Grass’
- “The clock indicates the moment—but what does eternity indicate?” – Walt Whitman
- “I see that the elementary laws never apologize.” – Walt Whitman, ‘Leaves Of Grass’
- “I am an acme of things accomplished, and I an encloser of things to be.” – Walt Whitman
- “To have great poets, there must be great audiences.” – Walt Whitman, ‘Leaves Of Grass’
- “The law of the past, present, and future can’t be eluded.” – Walt Whitman, ‘Leaves Of Grass’
- “The strongest and sweetest songs yet remain to be sung.” – Walt Whitman, ‘Leaves Of Grass’
- “I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person.” – Walt Whitman
- “Happiness, not in another place, but this place not for another hour, but for this hour.” – Walt Whitman
- “He sees eternity in men and women, he does not see men and women as dreams or dots.” – Walt Whitman
- “A great poem is no finish to a man or woman but rather a beginning.” – Walt Whitman, ‘Leaves Of Grass’
- “The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity.” – Walt Whitman
- “The known universe has one complete lover and that is the greatest poet.” – Walt Whitman, ‘Leaves Of Grass’
- “Forth from the war emerging, a book I have made, The words of my book nothing, the drift of it everything.” – Walt Whitman
- “Pointing to another world will never stop vice among us; shedding light over this world can alone help us.” – Walt Whitman
- “Whoever walks a furlong without sympathy walks to his own funeral drest in his shroud.” – Walt Whitman, ‘Leaves Of Grass’
- “The proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it.” – Walt Whitman, ‘Leaves Of Grass’
- “Of all races and eras these States with veins full of poetical stuff most need poets.” – Walt Whitman, ‘Leaves Of Grass’
- “Why are there trees I never walk under but large and melodious thoughts descend upon me?” – Walt Whitman, ‘Leaves Of Grass’
- “I am he that walks with the tender and growing night, I call to the earth and sea half-held by the night.” – Walt Whitman, ‘Leaves Of Grass’
- “I exist as I am, that is enough, If not other in the world be aware I sit content, And if each and all be aware I sit content.” – Walt Whitman, ‘Leaves Of Grass’
- “Oh, to be alive in such an age, when miracles are everywhere, and every inch of common air throbs a tremendous prophecy, of greater marvels yet to be.” – Walt Whitman, ‘Leaves Of Grass’
- “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, 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
Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819, in West Hills, New York. Apart from publishing his poetry, Whitman also worked as an office boy, a government clerk, and a teacher. He also worked in hospitals taking care of the wounded during the American Civil War.
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