Endurance is nobler than strength, and patience than beauty.
John RuskinRead
I fear uniformity. You cannot manufacture great men any more than you can manufacture gold.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that true greatness and individuality cannot be artificially created or produced.
John Ruskin's quote reflects a deep appreciation for the uniqueness of individuals, arguing that greatness arises naturally rather than through standardization or imitation. Just as gold cannot be manufactured, exceptional qualities in people cannot be forced into existence; they emerge from authenticity and individuality. This underscores the importance of nurturing personal identity and originality in a world that often values conformity.
In practice
During a motivational speech about personal growth and uniqueness.
Endurance is nobler than strength, and patience than beauty.
In health of mind and body, men should see with their own eyes, hear and speak without trumpets, walk on their feet, not on wheels, and work and war with their arms, not with engine-beams, nor rifles warranted to kill twenty men at a shot before you can see them.
You talk of the scythe of Time, and the tooth of Time: I tell you, Time is scytheless and toothless; it is we who gnaw like the worm - we who smite like the scythe. It is ourselves who abolish - ourselves who consume: we are the mildew, and the flame.
To be able to ask a question clearly is two-thirds of the way to getting it answered.
See that your children be taught, not only the labors of the earth, but the loveliness of it.
A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money.
We will be judged. There will be an accounting; there will be a reckoning sooner or later. It will either come from ourselves and our own conscience, or it will come from our kids when they ask that inconvenient question: 'What were you doing when they turned those kids back from the border?'
Indifference is the revenge the world takes on mediocrities.
What if the counterculture was only a stumbling beginning, rather than the best that could be hoped for?
I wander though China. Without ever having boarded a plane. My travels take place here in the Tokoyo subways, in the backseat of a taxi... all of a sudden this city will start to go. In a flash, the buildings will crumble. Over the Tokyo streets will fall my China, like ash, leaching into everything it touches. Slowly, gradually, until nothing remains. No, this isn't a place for me.
Let us repeat the two crucial negative premises as established firmly by all human experience: (1) Words are not the things we are speaking about; and (2) There is no such thing as an object in absolute isolation.
What I find very interesting is, we're not enthralled by the ancient world, and we've escaped all kinds of ancient preconceptions and assumptions and prejudices. But, nevertheless, we still make that connection between authoritative speech and male speech.
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