My rule has been, so far as I could have any rule (I could have no cast-iron rule) - my rule has been, to write what I have to say the best way I can - then lay it aside - taking it up again after some time and reading it afresh - the mind new to it. If there's no jar in the new reading, well and good - that's sufficient for me.
Walt WhitmanMy spirit has pass'd in compassion and determination around the whole earth. I have look'd for equals and lovers an found them ready for me in all lands, I think some divine rapport has equalized me with them
Walt WhitmanTHIS dust was once the Man, / Gentle, plain, just and resoluteโunder whose cautious hand, / Against the foulest crime in history known in any land or age, / Was saved the Union of These States.
Walt WhitmanWhat is that you express in your eyes? It seems to me more than all the print I have read in my life.
Walt WhitmanTo me, every hour of the light and dark is a miracle, every inch of space is a miracle, every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same, every cubic foot of the interior swarms with the same; every spear of grass-the frames, limbs, organs, of men and women, and all that concerns them, all these to me are unspeakably perfect miracles.
Walt Whitman