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Says

                            1.

I SAY whatever tastes sweet to the most perfect person
        —That is finally right.
 

                            2.

I SAY the human shape or face is so great, it must
        never be made ridiculous;
I say for ornaments nothing outré can be allowed,
And that anything is most beautiful without orna–
        ment,
And that exaggerations will be sternly revenged in
        your own physiology; and in other persons’ phys–
        iology also;
And I say that clean-shaped children can be jetted and
        conceiv’d only where natural forms prevail in
        public, and the human face and form are never
        caricatured;
And I say that genius need never more be turn’d to
        romances,
(For facts properly told, how mean appear all ro–
        mances.)
 
 

                            3.

I HAVE said many times that materials and the Soul
        are great, and that all depends on physique;
Now I reverse what I said, and affirm that all depends
        on the æsthetic, or intellectual,
And that criticism is great—and that refinement is
        greatest of all;
And I affirm now that the mind governs—and that all
        depends on the mind.
 
 

                            4.

WITH one man or woman—(no matter which one—I
        even pick out the lowest,)
With him or her I now illustrate the whole law;
I say that every right, in politics or what-not, shall be
        eligible to that one man or woman, on the same
        terms as any.

Leaves of Grass

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