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
Winning
Throughout
Loveliness
High
Painter
Utmost
Art
Lovely
Whatsoever
Others
Seeking
Directing
Nature
Loving
Emphasis
Power
Neither
Improving
Things
Thoughts
Consists
Displaying
Pure
Gentle
Altering

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It is advisable that a person know at least three things, where they are, where they are going, and what they had best do under the circumstances.
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The first test of a truly great man is his humility. By humility I don't mean doubt of his powers or hesitation in speaking his opinion, but merely an understanding of the relationship of what he can say and what he can do.
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Greater completion marks the progress of art, absolute completion usually its decline.
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The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.
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Race is precisely of as much consequence in man as it is in any animal.
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To be able to ask a question clearly is two-thirds of the way to getting it answered.
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The relative majesty of buildings depends more on the weight and vigour of their masses than any other tribute of their design.
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Science deals exclusively with things as they are in themselves and art exclusively with things as they affect the human sense and human soul.
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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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Never has interest in art been so high, and never has quality been so low.
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All the other passions do occasional good, but whenever pride puts in its word, everything goes wrong, and what it might really be desirable to do, quietly and innocently, it is mortally dangerous to do, proudly.
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To know anything well involves a profound sensation of ignorance.
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The principle of all successful effort is to try to do not what is absolutely the best, but what is easily within our power, and suited for our temperament and condition.
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No day is without its innocent hope.
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My mother's influence in molding my character was conspicuous. She forced me to learn daily long chapters of the Bible by heart. To that discipline and patient, accurate resolve I owe not only much of my general power of taking pains, but of the best part of my taste for literature.
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Obedience is, indeed, founded on a kind of freedom, else it would become mere subjugation, but that freedom is only granted that obedience may be more perfect and thus while a measure of license is necessary to exhibit the individual energies of things, the fairness and pleasantness and perfection of them all consist in their restraint.
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A man is known to his dog by the smell, to his tailor by the coat, to his friend by the smile each of these know him, but how little or how much depends on the dignity of the intelligence. That which is truly and indeed characteristic of the man is known only to God.
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What do you suppose makes all men look back to the time of childhood with so much regret (if their childhood has been, in any moderate degree, healthy or peaceful)? That rich charm, which the least possession had for us, was in consequence of the poorness of our treasures.
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Every great man is always being helped by everybody, for his gift is to get good out of all things and all persons.
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No art can be noble which is incapable of expressing thought, and no art is capable of expressing thought which does not change.
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