You cannot hammer a girl into anything. She grows as a flower does, she will wither without sun; she will decay in her sheath as a narcissus will if you do not give her air enough; she might fall and defile her head in dust if you leave her without help at some moments in her life; but you cannot fetter her; she must take her own fair form and way if she take any.

John Ruskin

John Ruskin

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All great and beautiful work has come of first gazing without shrinking into the darkness.

— John Ruskin

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It is written on the arched sky; it looks out from every star. It is the poetry of Nature; it is that which uplifts the spirit within us.

— John Ruskin

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Whereas it has long been known and declared that the poor have no right to the property of the rich, I wish it also to be known and declared that the rich have no right to the property of the poor.

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The strength and power of a country depends absolutely on the quantity of good men and women in it.

— John Ruskin

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There are no such things as Flowers there are only gladdened Leaves.

— John Ruskin

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