"Were I called on to define, very briefly, the term Art, I should call it the reproduction of what the Senses perceive in Nature through the veil of the soul. The mere imitation, however accurate, of what is in Nature, entitles no man to the sacred name of Artist."

Poe, Edgar Allan on art   

"A morning glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books."

Whitman, Walt on flowers   

"Henceforth I ask not good fortune. I myself am good fortune."

Whitman, Walt on fortune   

"All faults may be forgiven of him who has perfect candor."

Whitman, Walt on frankness   

"Camerado, I give you my hand, I give you my love more precious than money, I give you myself before preaching or law; Will you give me yourself?"

Whitman, Walt on friends and friendship   

"When I give I give myself."

Whitman, Walt on giving
5 fans of this quote   

"Be curious, not judgmental."

Whitman, Walt on judgment and judges   

"This is what you shall do: love the earth and sun, and 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 towards the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown, or to any man or number of men; go freely with the powerful uneducated persons, and with the young, and 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 books, and dismiss whatever insults your soul."

Whitman, Walt on life
5 fans of this quote   

"They do not sweat and whine about their condition, they do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins, they do not make me sick discussing their duty to God, not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things, not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago."

Whitman, Walt on animals   

"How beggarly appear arguments before a defiant deed!"

Whitman, Walt on argument   

"I celebrate myself, and sing myself."

Whitman, Walt on loneliness
5 fans of this quote   

"Produce great men, the rest follows."

Whitman, Walt on example   

"I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don't believe I deserved my friends."

Whitman, Walt on enemies
10 fans of this quote   

"The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane."

Twain, Mark on dissent
28 fans of this quote   

"Duties are not performed for duty's sake, but because their neglect would make the man uncomfortable. A man performs but one duty --the duty of contenting his spirit, the duty of making himself agreeable to himself."

Twain, Mark on duty
12 fans of this quote   

"Do something every day that you don't want to do. This is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain."

Twain, Mark on duty
30 fans of this quote   

"The first half of life consists of the capacity to enjoy without the chance; the last half consists of the chance without the capacity."

Twain, Mark on joy
15 fans of this quote   

"Man will do many things to get himself loved; he will do all things to get himself envied."

Twain, Mark on envy
25 fans of this quote   

"I believe that our Heavenly Father invented man because he was disappointed in the monkey."

Twain, Mark on evolution
24 fans of this quote   

"There is nothing so annoying as a good example!!"

Twain, Mark on example
26 fans of this quote   

"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example."

Twain, Mark on example
8 fans of this quote   

"I have never taken any exercise except sleeping and resting."

Twain, Mark on exercise
16 fans of this quote   

"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please."

Twain, Mark on facts
43 fans of this quote   

"Our leading men are not of much account and never have been, but the average of the people is immense, beyond all history. Sometimes I think in all departments, literature and art included, that will be the way our superiority will exhibit itself. We will not have great individuals or great leaders, but a great average bulk, unprecedentedly great."

Whitman, Walt on masses