All music is is what awakes from you when you are reminded by the instruments.
Walt WhitmanRead
I dreamed in a dream, I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole of the rest of the earth; I dreamed that was the new City of Friends; Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust love—it led the rest; It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city, And in all their looks and words.
Interpretation
The quote speaks to the power of love and friendship as a foundation for a strong community.
In this quote, Walt Whitman describes a visionary dream of a city that symbolizes an ideal society built on the strength of collective love and friendship. The invincibility of this city against external challenges highlights the importance of robust connections among individuals, which foster positive actions and attitudes, creating a nurturing environment where love prevails.
In practice
In a speech about building a supportive community, you can quote Whitman to illustrate the essential role of friendship.
All music is is what awakes from you when you are reminded by the instruments.
Did you, too, O friend, suppose democracy was only for elections, for politics, and for a party name? I say democracy is only of use there that it may pass on and come to its flower and fruit in manners, in the highest forms of interaction between people, and their beliefs - in religion, literature, colleges and schools- democracy in all public and private life.
In the confusion we stay with each other, happy to be together, speaking without uttering a single word.
A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.
Now, dearest comrade, lift me to your face,_x000D_ _x000D_ We must separate awhileHere! take from my lips this kiss._x000D_ _x000D_ Whoever you are, I give it especially to you;_x000D_ _x000D_ So long!And I hope we shall meet again.
And whoever walks a furlong without sympathy walks to his own funeral drest in his shroud.
All things are in common among friends.
We must reach out our hand in friendship and dignity both to those who would befriend us and those who would be our enemy.
Those final weeks, spanning end of summer and the beginning of another autumn, are blurred in memory, perhaps because our understanding of each other had reached that sweet depth where two people communicate more often in silence than in words: an affectionate quietness replaces the tensions, the unrelaxed chatter and chasing about that produce a friendship’s more showy, more, in the surface sense, dramatic moments.
I maintain that, if everyone knew what others said about him, there would not be four friends in the world.
I was told so many times when I was a kid, 'I can't be friends with you, you're too intense, you're too sad all the time.' I really thought that when I made the first album that everyone would understand me, all the people who weren't my friends would become my friends.
That's what I meant,' said Pippin. 'We hobbits ought to stick together, and we will. I shall go, unless they chain me up. There must be someone with intelligence in the party.
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