You must get into the habit of looking intensely at words, and assuring yourself of their meaning, syllable by syllable-nay, letter by letter... you might read all the books in the British Museum (if you could live long enough) and remain an utterly "illiterate," undeducated person; but if you read ten pages of a good book, letter by letter, - that is to say, with real accuracy- you are for evermore in some measure an educated person.
John RuskinBetter a child should be ignorant of a thousand truths than have consecrated in its heart a single lie.
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 RuskinBeethoven always sounds to me like the upsetting of a bag of nails, with here and there an also dropped hammer.
John RuskinNo one can ask honestly or hopefully to be delivered from temptation unless he has himself honestly and firmly determined to do the best he can to keep out of it.
John Ruskin