“The secret of language is the secret of sympathy and its full charm is possible only to the gentle.”

—  John Ruskin

Lecture III
Lectures on Art (1870)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The secret of language is the secret of sympathy and its full charm is possible only to the gentle." by John Ruskin?
John Ruskin photo
John Ruskin 133
English writer and art critic 1819–1900

Related quotes

Oscar Wilde photo

“All charming people, I fancy, are spoiled. It is the secret of their attraction.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

"The Portrait of Mr. W. H.," Blackwood's Magazine, July 1889 http://books.google.com/books?id=QfczAQAAMAAJ&q=%22All+charming+people+I+fancy+are+spoiled+It+is+the+secret+of+their+attraction%22&pg=PA4#v=onepage

Bono photo

“Its no secret that a Conscience can sometimes be a Pest, Its no Secret that Ambition bites the Nails of Success”

Bono (1960) Irish rock musician, singer of U2

"The Fly"
Lyrics, Achtung Baby (1991)

Thomas Hardy photo

“When women are secret they are secret indeed; and more often then not they only begin to be secret with the advent of a second lover.”

Thomas Hardy book A Pair of Blue Eyes

Source: A Pair of Blue Eyes

Baruch Spinoza photo

“I can always say to myself that my atheism, like that of Spinoza, is true piety towards the universe and denies only gods fashioned by men in their own image, to be servants of their human interests; and that even in this denial I am no rude iconoclast, but full of secret sympathy with the impulses of idolaters.”

Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) Dutch philosopher

George Santayana, in "On My Friendly Critics", in Soliloquies in England (1922)
S - Z, George Santayana

Hillary Clinton photo

“He says it's a secret plan, but the only secret is that he has no plan.”

Hillary Clinton (1947) American politician, senator, Secretary of State, First Lady

Presidential campaign (April 12, 2015 – 2016), First presidential debate (September 26, 2016)

Julian of Norwich photo

“I saw and understood that every Shewing is full of secret things.”

Julian of Norwich (1342–1416) English theologian and anchoress

Summations, Chapter 51
Context: I saw and understood that every Shewing is full of secret things.
And therefore me behoveth now to tell three properties in which I am somewhat eased. The first is the beginning of teaching that I understood therein, in the same time; the second is the inward teaching that I have understood therein afterward; the third, all the whole Revelation from the beginning to the end (that is to say of this Book) which our Lord God of His goodness bringeth oftentimes freely to the sight of mine understanding. And these three are so oned, as to my understanding, that I cannot, nor may, dispart them. And by these three, as one, I have teaching whereby I ought to believe and trust in our Lord God, that of the same goodness of which He shewed it, and for the same end, right so, of the same goodness and for the same end He shall declare it to us when it is His will.

Marshall McLuhan photo

“Only puny secrets need protection. Big secrets are protected by public incredulity.”

Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980) Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar-- a professor of English literature, a literary critic, and a …

Take Today : The Executive as Dropout (1972)
Context: Only puny secrets need protection. Big secrets are protected by public incredulity. You can actually dissipate a situation by giving it maximal coverage. As to alarming people, that's done by rumours, not by coverage. (p. 92)

Frederick Buechner photo

“I not only have my secrets, I am my secrets. And you are yours. Our secrets are human secrets, and our trusting each other enough to share them with each other has much to do with the secret of what it means to be human.”

Frederick Buechner (1926) Poet, novelist, short story writer, theologian

Related topics