To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle. Every cubic inch of space is a miracle.
Source: 'Miracles', Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman (poem first published 1856)
Genuine Whitman, from the poem 'Miracles' in Leaves of Grass: 'To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle, / Every cubic inch of space is a miracle.' The quoted text matches the poem apart from line breaks rendered as sentences.
Dismiss whatever insults your soul.
Source: Preface to Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman, 1855
From the 1855 Preface to Leaves of Grass, in the celebrated series of imperatives ('re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul'). Note the original reads 'your own soul'; the corpus text drops 'own', a small but real deviation from the printed line.
I believe that a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.
Source: 'Song of Myself', section 31, Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman
Genuine Whitman, opening line of section 31 of 'Song of Myself': 'I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.' The corpus text inserts 'that' after 'believe', which is a common quotation variant but not the printed wording.
All parts way for the progress of souls, / All religion, all solid things, arts, governments - all that / was or is apparent upon this globe or any globe, / falls into niches and corners before the procession /of souls along the grand roads of the universe.
Source: 'Song of the Open Road', Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman (first published 1856)
Genuine Whitman, from the late sections of 'Song of the Open Road'. One transcription error to fix: the poem reads 'All parts away for the progress of souls', not 'All parts way'. Line breaks in the corpus text also do not match the poem's lineation.
This text lives in the commons
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