Walt Whitman — "The great poet digests the experience of the world and returns it in the form of…"

"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 a firm believer in the doctrine of universal salvation."

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

"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…"

"We will not have great individuals or great leaders, but a great average bulk, unprecedentedly great."