Quote

High art consists neither in altering, nor in improving nature but in seeking throughout nature for 'whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are pure' in loving these, in displaying to the utmost of the painter's power such loveliness as is in them, and directing the thoughts of others to them by winning art, or gentle emphasis.

John Ruskin

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John Ruskin
Age: 80 †
Born: 1819
Born: February 8
Died: 1900
Died: January 20
Aesthetician
Architect
Art Critic
Art Historian
Journalist
Literary Critic
Painter
Philosopher
Poet
Sociologist
University Teacher
Writer
London
England
Kata Phusin
Rŏsŭkʻin
J. Ruskin
John Rosukin
Jon Rasukin
Dzhon Rëskin
Ruskin
Nature
Loving
Emphasis
Power
Neither
Improving
Things
Thoughts
Consists
Displaying
Pure
Gentle
Altering
Winning
Throughout
Loveliness
High
Painter
Utmost
Art
Lovely
Whatsoever
Others
Seeking
Directing

More quotes by John Ruskin

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Though you may have known clever men who were indolent, you never knew a great man who was so and when I hear a young man spoken of as giving promise of great genius, the first question I ask about him always is, Does he work?
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All traveling becomes dull in exact proportion to its rapidity.
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Every noble life leaves the fibre of it interwoven forever in the work of the world.
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A man is born an artist as a hippopotamus is born a hippopotamus and you can no more make yourself one than you can make yourself a giraffe.
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The essence of lying is in deception, not in words.
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In all things that live there are certain irregularities, and deficiencies which are not only signs of life, but sources of beauty. No human face is exactly the same in its lines on each side, no leaf perfect in its lobes, no branch in its symmetry.
John Ruskin
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It is a matter of the simplest demonstration, that no man can be really appreciated but by his equal or superior.
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I desire ... to leave this one great fact clearly stated. THERE IS NO WEALTH BUT LIFE.
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The Divine mind is as visible in its full energy of operation on every lowly bank and mouldering stone as in the lifting of the pillars of heaven, and settling the foundation of the earth.
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Education is the leading human souls to what is best, and making what is best out of them and these two objects are always attainable together, and by the same means the training which makes man happiest in themselves also makes them most serviceable to others.
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Fine art is that in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go together.
John Ruskin
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Beethoven always sounds to me like the upsetting of a bag of nails, with here and there an also dropped hammer.
John Ruskin
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The finer the nature, the more flaws it will show through the clearness of it and it is a law of this universe that the best things shall be seldomest seen in their best form.
John Ruskin
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Expression, sentiment, truth to nature, are essential: but all those are not enough. I never care to look at a picture again, if it be ill composed and if well composed I can hardly leave off looking at it.
John Ruskin
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It is far better to give work that is above a person, than to educate the person to be above their work.
John Ruskin
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It seems a fantastic paradox, but it is nevertheless a most important truth, that no architecture can be truly noble which is not imperfect.
John Ruskin
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Labour without joy is base. Labour without sorrow is base. Sorrow without labour is base. Joy without labour is base.
John Ruskin
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Levi's station in life was the receipt of custom and Peter's, the shore of Galilee and Paul's, the antechambers of the High- Priest, which station in life each had to leave, with brief notice.
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The path of a good woman is indeed strewn with flowers but they rise behind her steps, not before them.
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I will not kill or hurt any living creature needlessly, nor destroy any beautiful thing, but will strive to save and comfort all gentle life, and guard and perfect all natural beauty upon the earth.
John Ruskin