“Song of myselfSmile O voluptuous cool-breath'd earth! Earth of the slumbering and liquid trees! Earth of departed sunset--earth of the mountains misty-topt! Earth of the vitreous pour of the full moon just tinged with blue! Earth of shine and dark mottling the tide of the river! Earth of the limpid gray of clouds brighter and clearer for my sake! Far-swooping elbow'd earth--rich apple-blossom'd earth! Smile, for your lover comes.”

“And I or you pocketless of a dime, may purchase the pick of the earth.”

“The press of my foot to the earth springs a hundred affections,They scorn the best I can do to relate them.”

“Now I see the secret of making the best person: it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.”

“Love the earth and sun and animals,Despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,Stand up for the stupid and crazy,Devote your income and labor to others...And your very flesh shall be a great poem.”

“In this broad earth of ours,Amid the measureless grossness and the slag,Enclosed and safe within its central heart,Nestles the seed perfection.”

“I swear I begin to see the meaning of these things. It is not the earth, it is not America, who is so great, it is I who am great or to be great…”