What is well done, I feel as if I did; what is ill-done, I reck not of.

Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great.

Artists must be sacrificed to their art.

Again, the great number of cultivated men keep each other up to a high standard. The habit of meeting well-read and knowing men teaches the art of omission and selection.

In this our talking America, we are ruined by our good nature and listening on all sides. This compliance takes away the power ofbeing greatly useful.

The sign and credentials of the poet are that he announces that which no man foretold

I shun father and mother and wife and brother when my genius calls me. I would write on the lintels of the door-post, Whim. I hope that it is somewhat better than whim at last, but we cannot spend the day in explanation.