Walt Whitman

The public is a thick-skinned beast, and you have to club it soundly to get any attention at all.

I find I am not, in any sense, a literary man.

I am a Democrat, but I don't believe in the Democratic party.

The greatest poem is the one that has yet to be written.

I believe in you, my soul, the other I am must not abase itself to you, And you must not be abased to the other.

I have said that the soul of man is immortal. I have said that the body of man is immortal.

I am not afraid of death, for I am a part of the earth, and I shall return to the earth.

I am the poet of the body and I am the poet of the soul.

I have been through many storms, and I have always come out on the other side.

I believe in the perfectibility of human nature. I believe that man is an animal that can be perfected.

I am a kosmos, of Manhattan the son, Turbulent, fleshy, sensual, eating, drinking and breeding.

I am not an advocate for a long life, but for a full one.

I have no doubt that the universe is a gigantic poem.

I am as bad as the worst, but, thank God, I am as good as the best.

The greatest city is that which has the greatest men and women.

I am a free man, and I shall always be a free man.

I believe in the common man, and I believe in the common woman.

I have no doubt that the future will be glorious.

I am a lover of all mankind, and I am a lover of all womankind.

The greatest wealth is health.