''The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity.''
''I will put in my poems, that with you is heroism, upon land and sea—And I will report all heroism from an American point of view.''
''To the real artist in humanity, what are called bad manners are often the most picturesque and significant of all.''
''And whoever walks a furlong without sympathy walks to his own funeral drest in his shroud.''
''O the joy of the strong-brawn'd fighter, towering in the arena in perfect condition, conscious of power, thirsting to meet his opponent.''
''I dote on myself, there is that lot of me and all so luscious.''
''As soon as histories are properly told there is no more need of romances.''
''And there is no trade or employment but the young man following it may become a hero.''
''To have great poets, there must be great audiences too.''
''I see her close beside me with silent lips sad and tremulous.''
''The proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it.''
''The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem.''
''I am for those who believe in loose delights, I share the midnight orgies of young men, I dance with the dancers and drink with the drinkers.''
''Rugged, mountainous, volcanic, he was himself more a French revolution than any of his volumes.''
''I never see that man without feeling that he is one to become personally attach'd to, for his combination of purest, heartiest tenderness, and native western form of manliness.''
''The beauty of independence, departure, actions that rely on themselves.''
''How beggarly appear arguments before a defiant deed!''
''And I will show that nothing can happen more beautiful than death.''
''I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.''
''There is that indescribable freshness and unconsciousness about an illiterate person that humbles and mocks the power of the noblest expressive genius.''
