“What is a communist? One who hath yearnings for equal division of unequal earnings: idler or bungler, or both, he is willing to fork out his penny and pocket your shilling.”

Satirising the idea of equal division regardless of effort · Epigram, 1850

• Equality
• Satire
• Work

“I claim to be a pioneer of the greatest, the most beneficial, the only crimeless Revolution, which man has yet seen. I also claim to be the poet of that Revolution—the Bard of Free-trade.”

Positioning his poetry as the voice of free trade and peace · Self-description

• Peace
• Poetry
• Revolution

“The truth is, I am not a poet. The thoughts of genuine poets flow without effort, as from a fountain; I have to pump from mine, and the well is not my own.”

Acknowledging the laborious nature of his own composition · Confession, 1840

• Effort
• Poetry
• Self