I say that democracy can never prove itself beyond cavil, until it fo… — Walt Whitman

I say that democracy can never prove itself beyond cavil, until it founds and luxuriantly grows its own forms of art, poems, schools, theology, displacing all that exists, or that has been produced anywhere in the past, under opposite influences.

Walt WhitmanPoet · American · 1819 – 1892

More from Walt Whitman

Passion is universal humanity. Without it religion, history, romance and art would be useless. — Honore de Balzac
All humanity is passion; without passion, religion, history, novels, art would be ineffectual. — Honore de Balzac
Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage. — H. L. Mencken
Judging from the main portions of the history of the world, so far, justice is always in jeopardy. — Walt Whitman
In the confusion we stay with each other, happy to be together, speaking without uttering a single word. — Walt Whitman
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. — Walt Whitman