He who has learned what is commonly considered the whole art of painting, that is, the art of representing any natural object faithfully, has as yet only learned the language by which his thoughts are to be expressed.
John RuskinThat man is always happy who is in the presence of something which he cannot know to the full, which he is always going on to know.
John RuskinThe true grotesque being the expression of the repose or play of a serious mind, there is a false grotesque opposed to it, which is the result of the full exertion of a frivolous one.
John RuskinBetter the rudest work that tells a story or records a fact, than the richest without meaning.
John RuskinThat admiration of the 'neat but not gaudy,' which is commonly reported to have influenced the devil when he painted his tail pea green.
John RuskinSuperstition, in all times and among all nations, is the fear of a spirit whose passions are those of a man, whose acts are the acts of a man; who is present in some places, not in others; who makes no places holy and not others; who is kind to one person, unkind to another; who is pleased or angry according to the degree of attention you pay him, or praise you refuse to him; who is hostile generally to human pleasure, but may be bribed by sacrifice of a part of that pleasure into permitting the rest. This, whatever form of faith it colors, is the essence of superstition.
John Ruskin