Sunday, May 29, 2011

Not a long post

But a quote, found on the literary tattoo website Contrariwise, and a quote from Whitman I've oddly never heard before. I'm not as well read as I used to be, and haven't picke dup a classic work of literature in years (am I blowing my cover?), but this quote resonates with me in so many ways:

“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.”

This is from Leaves of Grass, but it was apparently only ever published in the first edition and in no other editions. A shame, because it seems like the best possible life motto.

1 comment:

Ray Lee said...

This is excellent, thank you for posting it. I'm surprised it was pulled out of later editions, and wonder if it was at Whitman's request.