Walt Whitman — "I have no doubt that the universe is a gigantic poem."

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

"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…"

"I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul. The pleasures of heaven are with me and the pains of hell are with me."

"I make my way to the hospital, and stay there for hours, among the wounded, to give them what comfort I can, and to read to them, and to write letters for them."

"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."