I think Whitman more than any other poet possessed the gift of revealing to others the beauty of everything around us, the beauty of nature, the beauty of human beings.

Some of his own closeness to nature, his great love for human beings, was passed on by Whitman to all of us who knew and loved him.

I think it's a part of us as human beings that we search outside of ourselves for meaning.

The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy.

Pessimists are the people who have no hope for themselves or for others. Pessimists are also people who think the human race is beneath their notice, that they're better than other human beings.

We can learn to see each other and see ourselves in each other and recognize that human beings are more alike than we are unalike.