John Ruskin
All things are literally better, lovelier, and more beloved for the imperfections which have been divinely appointed, that the law of human life may be effort, and the law of human judgment, mercy.Collection: Life
I am almost sick and giddy with the quantity of things in my head, all tempting and wanting to be worked out.Collection: Sick
Always stand by form against force.Collection: Form
It is only the basest writer who cannot speak of the sea without talking of "raging waves," "remorseless floods," "ravenous billows," etc.; and it is one of the signs of the highest power in a writer to check all such habits of thought, and to keep his eyes fixed firmly on the pure fact , out of which if any feeling comes to him or his reader, he knows it must be a true one.Collection: Eye
At every moment of our lives we should be trying to find out, not in what we differ with other people, but in what we agree with them.Collection: People
I had no companions to quarrel with, nobody to assist, and nobody to thank... the evil consequence of all this was not, however, what might perhaps have been expected, that I grew up selfish or non affectionate; but that, when affection did come, it came with a violence utterly rampant and unmanageable.Collection: Selfish
The constant duty of every man to his fellows is to ascertain his own powers and special gifts, and to strengthen them for the help of others.Collection: Men
The man who says to one, go, and he goeth, and to another, come, and he cometh, has, in most cases, more sense of restraint and difficulty than the man who obeys him.Collection: Men
The only absolutely and unapproachably heroic element in the soldier's work seems to be-that he is paid little for it-and regularly.Collection: Soldier
The art of nations is to be accumulative, just as science and history are; the work of living men not superseding, but building itself upon the work of the past.Collection: Art
In painting as in eloquence, the greater your strength, the quieter your manner.Collection: Painting
I am far more provoked at being thought foolish by foolish people, than pleased at being thought sensible by sensible people; and the average proportion of the numbers of each is not to my advantage.Collection: Average
Our purity of taste is best tested by its universality, for if we can only admire this thing or that, we maybe use that our cause for liking is of a finite and false nature.Collection: Taste
The actual flower is the plant’s highest fulfilment, and are not here exclusively for herbaria, county floras and plant geography: they are here first of all for delight.Collection: Firsts
There is a working class – strong and happy – among both rich and poor: there is an idle class – weak, wicked, and miserable – among both rich and poor.Collection: Strong
In every person who comes near you look for what is good and strong.Collection: Strong
The only way to understand the difficult parts of the Bible is first to read and obey the easy ones.Collection: Firsts