Walt Whitman

[Maskull]

Does anyone know where this passage is from? I think it's by Walt Whitman. The quote may not be exact but should be very close...

"It is not for what I have put into this book that I have written it, and it is not by you reading it that you shall acquire it."

[pagebypage]

It's from Leaves of Grass, poem Whoever You are, Holding Me now in Hand (http://www.bartleby.com/142/37.html), lines 32-33.

"For it is not for what I have put into it that I have written this book,
Nor is it by reading it you will acquire it,"

[Maskull]

Thank you. This has eluded me for years, and only now did I think of asking online. Walt Whitman was apparently right: nor is it by reading it did I acquire it.