Quotes About Freedom

Afoot and lighthearted I take to the open road, healthy, free, the world before me.

re-examine all you have been told in school or church or in any book, and 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. [From the preface to Leaves Grass]

Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road. Healthy, free, the world before me. The long brown path before me leading me wherever I choose. Henceforth, I ask not good fortune, I myself am good fortune. Henceforth, I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing.

From this hour I ordain myself loos'd of limits and imaginary lines.

I act as the tongue of you, ... tied in your mouth . . . . in mine it begins to be loosened.

Long have you timidly waded Holding a plank by the shore, Now I will you to be a bold swimmer, To jump off in the midst of the sea, Rise again, nod to me, shout, And laughingly dash with your hair.

TO the States or any one of them, or any city of the States, Resist much, obey little, Once unquestioning obedience, once fully enslaved, Once fully enslaved, no nation, state, city of this earth, ever after-ward resumes its liberty.

Unscrew the locks from the doors ! Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs !

Be not dishearten'd -- Affection shall solve the problems of Freedom yet; Those who love each other shall become invincible.

The dirtiest book of all is the expurgated book.

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.

I wear my hat as I please, indoors or out.

Oh while I live, to be the ruler of life, not a slave, to meet life as a powerful conqueror, and nothing exterior to me will ever take command of me

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.

A simple separate person is not contained between his hat and his boots.

Freedom: to walk free and own no superior

The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem.

I will not descend among professors and capitalists.

O the joy of my spirit--it is uncaged--it darts like lightning! It is not enough to have this globe or a certain time, I will have thousands of globes and all time.

From this hour, freedom! Going where I like, my own master...

Once fully enslaved, no nation, state, city of this earth, ever afterward resumes its liberty.

To drive free, to love free, to court destruction with taunts. One brief house of madness and joy!

I will go to the bank by the wood, and become undisguised and naked;

A heroic person walks at his ease through and out of that custom or precedent or authority that suits him not.