Tag: leaves of grass

“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 tyrants, argue not con­cern­ing God, have patience and indul­gence toward the peo­ple, take off your hat to noth­ing known or unknown or to any man or num­ber of men, go freely with pow­er­ful une­d­u­cat­ed per­sons and with the young and with the moth­ers of fam­i­lies, read these leaves in the open air every sea­son of every year of your life, re-exam­ine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dis­miss what­ev­er insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the rich­est flu­en­cy not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lash­es of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body…”
Pref­ace to Leaves of Grass — Walt Whit­man