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

"The older I grow the more I am confirmed in my optimism, my democracy—not of course denying or excusing what is bad—but it is good, not bad, that is common. Beneath all the froth, illiteracy, worse, t…"

"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 tyr…"

"Filthy to others, to me they are not filthy, but illustrious; while critics consider those subjects from the point of view of persons standing on the lowest animal and infidelistic platform. Which, th…"

"I am a poet of the city, and I am a poet of the country."