“This is what you shall do; Love the earth and
sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone 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.” ― Walt Whitman
