No human face is exactly the same in its lines on each side, no leaf perfect in its lobes, no branch in its symmetry. All admit irregularity as they imply change; and to banish imperfection is to destroy expression, to check exertion, to paralyze vitality. All things are literally better, lovelier, and more beloved for the imperfections which have been divinely appointed, that the law of human life may be Effort, and the law of human judgment, Mercy.

) (eds. Lectures in the 1860s
Ruskin lectured widely in the 1860s giving the Rede lecture at the University of Cambridge in 1867 for example. John James had sent the piece to Turner who did not wish it to be publiJohn Ruskind.

Today his ideas and concerns are widely recognised as having anticipated interest in environmentalism sustainability and craft. His writing styles and literary forms were equally varied. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture myth to ornithology literature to education and botany to political economy.