1
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.Walt Whitman
2
O Me! O 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 will contribute a verse.Walt Whitman
3
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.Walt Whitman

4
The untold want, by life and land ne'er granted, Now, Voyager, sail thou forth, to seek and find.Walt Whitman
5
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.Walt Whitman

6
Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.Walt Whitman

7
Re-examine all you have been told. Dismiss what insults your soul.Walt Whitman

8
Every moment of light and dark is a miracle.Walt Whitman
9
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…Walt Whitman
10
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.Walt Whitman
11
TO the States or any one of them, or any city of the States, Resist much, obey little, Once unquestioning obedience, once fully enslaved, Once fully enslaved, no nation, state, city of this earth, ever after-ward resumes its liberty.Walt Whitman

12
Of Equality--as if it harm'd me, giving others the same chances and rights as myself--as if it were not indispensable to my own rights that others possess the same.Walt Whitman

13
Whatever satisfies the soul is truth.Walt Whitman
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Re-examine all you have been told in school or church or in any book, and 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.[ From the preface to Leaves Grass]Walt Whitman

15
I have said that the soul is not more than the body, And I have said that the body is not more than the soul, And nothing, not God, is greater to one than one's-self is,Walt Whitman

16
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.Walt Whitman
17
Why should I wish to see God better than this day? I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then, In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass; I find letters from God dropped in the street, and every one is signed by God's name, And I leave them where they are, for I know that others will punctually come forever and ever.Walt Whitman
18
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 largestWalt Whitman
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Here is the test of wisdom, Wisdom is not finally tested in schools, Wisdom cannot be pass’d from one having it to another not having it, Wisdom is of the soul, is not susceptible of proof, is its own proof, Applies to all stages and objects and qualities and is content, Is the certainty of the reality and immortality of things, and the excellence of things; Something there is in the float of the sight of things that provokes it out of the soul.Walt Whitman

20
Some people are so much sunshine to the square inch.Walt Whitman