Whitman, as Printed

‹ Leaves of Grass, 1891–92

The lines with “nothing”

nothing 110 Back to N

  1. p. 14, line 22Why even I myself I often think know little or nothing of my real life,
  2. p. 17, line 22The words of my book nothing, the drift of it every thing,
  3. p. 20, line 24Think nothing can ever be greater, nothing can ever deserve more than it deserves,
  4. p. 24, line 22And I will show that nothing can happen more beautiful than death,
  5. p. 33, line 24And I perceive they do not come from the roofs of mouths for nothing.
  6. p. 34, line 8All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,
  7. p. 43, line 2If they are not yours as much as mine they are nothing, or next to nothing,
  8. p. 43, line 3If they are not the riddle and the untying of the riddle they are nothing,
  9. p. 43, line 4If they are not just as close as they are distant they are nothing.
  10. p. 45, line 20And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men.
  11. p. 48, line 15By God! I will accept nothing which all cannot have their counterpart of on the same terms.
  12. p. 51, line 1Now I will do nothing but listen,
  13. p. 52, line 6If nothing lay more develop'd the quahaug in its callous shell were enough.
  14. p. 66, line 11You can do nothing and be nothing but what I will infold you.
  15. p. 71, line 22Afar down I see the huge first Nothing, I know I was even there,
  16. p. 72, line 5My embryo has never been torpid, nothing could overlay it.
  17. p. 76, line 8And nothing, not God, is greater to one than one's self is,
  18. p. 79, line 19From that of myself without which I were nothing,
  19. p. 88, line 6A WOMAN waits for me, she contains all, nothing is lacking,
  20. p. 101, line 13Then I am charged with untold and untellable wisdom, I am silent, I require nothing further,
  21. p. 109, line 21Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust love, it led the rest,
  22. p. 121, line 2Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
  23. p. 127, line 5To see nothing anywhere but what you may reach it and pass it,
  24. p. 135, line 6Nothing for any one but what is for him, near and far are for him, the ships in the offing,
  25. p. 147, line 22And nothing exterior shall ever take command of me.
  26. p. 147, line 27My voided body nothing more to me, returning to the purifications, further offices, eternal uses of the earth.
  27. p. 152, line 2And nothing endures but personal qualities.
  28. p. 154, line 1Than this nothing has better served, it has served all,
  29. p. 157, line 11She knows the thoughts as she passes, nothing is conceal'd from her,
  30. p. 165, line 7And moving masses as wild demons surging, and lives as nothing risk'd,
  31. p. 171, line 11You may read in many languages, yet read nothing about it,
  32. p. 171, line 12You may read the President's message and read nothing about it there,
  33. p. 171, line 13Nothing in the reports from the State department or Treasury department, or in the daily papers or weekly papers,
  34. p. 173, line 13Can each see signs of the best by a look in the looking-glass? is there nothing greater or more?
  35. p. 176, line 11I myself am a word with them—my qualities interpenetrate with theirs—my name is nothing to them,
  36. p. 177, line 13Closes nothing, refuses nothing, shuts none out,
  37. p. 178, line 12Tumbling on steadily, nothing dreading,
  38. p. 178, line 17Swift, glad, content, unbereav'd, nothing losing,
  39. p. 179, line 15I swear I begin to see little or nothing in audible words,
  40. p. 180, line 16Work on, age after age, nothing is to be lost,
  41. p. 186, line 19I should have blabb'd nothing but you, I should have chanted nothing but you.
  42. p. 187, line 20As for me, I give nothing to any one except I give the like carefully to you,
  43. p. 188, line 5Through birth, life, death, burial, the means are provided, nothing is scanted,
  44. p. 190, line 4I give nothing as duties,
  45. p. 190, line 7Let others dispose of questions, I dispose of nothing, I arouse unanswerable questions,
  46. p. 216, line 7For I myself am not one who bestows nothing upon man and woman,
  47. p. 224, line 5Nothing my babe you see in the sky,
  48. p. 224, line 6And nothing at all to you it says—but look you my babe,
  49. p. 225, line 8For what are we, mere strips of cloth profiting nothing,
  50. p. 226, line 25It is to gain nothing, but risk and defy every thing,
  51. p. 228, line 11I too leave the rest—great as it is, it is nothing—houses, machines are nothing—I see them not,
  52. p. 231, line 10I have rejected nothing you offer'd me—whom you adopted I have adopted,
  53. p. 232, line 4Not for nothing have I brought you hither—we must remain,
  54. p. 245, line 16Some, their time up, returning with thinn'd ranks, young, yet very old, worn, marching, noticing nothing;)
  55. p. 250, line 14You came, taciturn, with nothing to give—we but look'd on each other,
  56. p. 251, line 22And the threat of what is call'd hell is little or nothing to me,
  57. p. 251, line 23And the lure of what is call'd heaven is little or nothing to me;
  58. p. 264, line 20Nothing is sinful to us outside of ourselves,
  59. p. 269, line 11Nothing out of its place is good, nothing in its place is bad,
  60. p. 270, line 8(Not for nothing have the indomitable heads of the earth been always ready to fall for Liberty.)
  61. p. 273, line 7Hated tyrants, argued not concerning God, had patience and indulgence toward the people, taken off my hat to nothing known or unknown,
  62. p. 273, line 11Claim'd nothing to myself which I have not carefully claim'd for others on the same terms,
  63. p. 273, line 26I swear nothing is good to me now that ignores individuals,
  64. p. 274, line 5I swear I am charm'd with nothing except nativity,
  65. p. 279, line 7Dispensatress, that by a word givest a thousand miles, a million farms, and missest nothing,
  66. p. 287, line 9That is nothing that is quell'd by one or two failures, or any number of failures,
  67. p. 287, line 13Invites no one, promises nothing, sits in calmness and light, is positive and composed, knows no discouragement,
  68. p. 288, line 24O I know that those men and women were not for nothing, any more than we are for nothing,
  69. p. 289, line 11Did they achieve nothing for good for themselves?
  70. p. 291, line 22That he who never peril'd his life, but retains it to old age in riches and ease, has probably achiev'd nothing for himself worth mentioning,
  71. p. 300, line 20And often to me they are alive after what custom has served them, but nothing more,
  72. p. 301, line 2As to me I know of nothing else but miracles,
  73. p. 303, line 12Did you think there was nothing but two or three pronunciations in the sound of your name?
  74. p. 303, line 15Who has not look'd forth from the windows the eyes for nothing, or whose brain held audience with messengers for nothing,
  75. p. 304, line 5But I, from the banks of the running Missouri, praise nothing in art or aught else,
  76. p. 326, line 23Only from me can they hide nothing, and would not if they could,
  77. p. 333, line 5Have you fear'd the future would be nothing to you?
  78. p. 333, line 6Is to-day nothing? is the beginningless past nothing?
  79. p. 333, line 7If the future is nothing they are just as surely nothing.
  80. p. 336, line 21The interminable hordes of the ignorant and wicked are not nothing,
  81. p. 336, line 22The barbarians of Africa and Asia are not nothing,
  82. p. 336, line 23The perpetual successions of shallow people are not nothing as they go.
  83. p. 337, line 22I swear I think there is nothing but immortality!
  84. p. 344, line 20I exclude others from you, there is nothing to be commiserated,
  85. p. 354, line 2Its veins down the neck distend, its eyes roll till they show nothing but their whites,
  86. p. 358, line 23War, sorrow, suffering gone—the rank earth purged—nothing but joy left!
  87. p. 362, line 4And that nothing fails its perfect return, and that what are called lies are perfect returns,
  88. p. 362, line 9And sing and laugh and deny nothing.
  89. p. 369, line 14Science, ships, politics, cities, factories, are not nothing,
  90. p. 372, line 6Nothing from you this time O drummers bearing my warlike drums.
  91. p. 377, line 1With nothing to show to devise from its idle years,
  92. p. 385, line 10Eastward the sea absorbing, viewing, (nothing but sea and sky,)
  93. p. 391, line 5By any grand ideal tried, intentionless, the whole a nothing,
  94. p. 396, line 1Nothing is ever really lost, or can be lost,
  95. p. 407, line 16[…] collated, it is worth printing (certainly I have nothing fresh to write)—I while away the hours of my […]
  96. p. 408, line 1[…] dry on the shore-sands, helpless to move anywhere—nothing left but behave myself quiet, and while away the days […]
  97. p. 426, line 21[…] its field of aim and escape and construction, nothing less than a hundred years from now can fully answer […]
  98. p. 427, line 23[…] war, or high, exceptional personages of Old-World song; nothing, as I may say, for beauty's sake—no legend, or […]
  99. p. 436, line 32[…] of communities or individuals all times, there is nothing so rare in modern conventions and poetry as their normal […]