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I do not care how slowly you do it, or with how many alterations, junctions, or re-touchings; the one thing I ask of you is, that the line shall be right
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“I do not care how slowly you do it, or with how many alterations, junctions, or re-touchings; the one thing I ask of you is, that the line shall be right”

John Ruskin

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Source
Lectures on Art, Delivered Before the University of Oxford in Hilary Term, 1870
Date
1870
Meaning

Meaning of “I do not care how slowly you do…”

Accuracy is prioritized over speed and first-pass perfection, making revision and careful measurement legitimate parts of learning a creative skill.

Source context

Where does it come from?

Lectures on Art, Lecture VI, Project Gutenberg #19164. Ruskin is giving drawing instruction and immediately specifies measurement as the standard of correctness.

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ArtCreativityDiscipline Quotes About Habits, Practice & ConsistencyEffortHard WorkIntegrityPatienceSelf-Control Quotes About Restraint & JudgmentSuccess
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These crests only rise on the back of constant labour.
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“These crests only rise on the back of constant labour.”

Arthur Quiller-Couch · On The Art of Reading · 1920
Meaning & context

Peak creative moments are described as resting on repeated labor, rejecting the idea that successful writing can be separated from sustained preparation.

Source details

On The Art of Reading, Lecture V, Project Gutenberg #16579; “crests” refers to exceptional moments of successful writing described immediately before.

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So, in writing, only out of long preparation can come the truly triumphant flash
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“So, in writing, only out of long preparation can come the truly triumphant flash”

Arthur Quiller-Couch · On The Art of Reading · 1920
Meaning & context

The sudden-looking breakthrough is placed at the end of preparation rather than outside it: memorable execution is supported by work accumulated beforehand.

Source details

On The Art of Reading, Lecture V, Project Gutenberg #16579; excerpted from Quiller-Couch’s analogy between writing practice and concentrated performance.

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Genius is but a capability of labouring intensely: it is the power of making great and sustained efforts.
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“Genius is but a capability of labouring intensely: it is the power of making great and sustained efforts.”

Samuel Smiles · Thrift · 1875
Meaning & context

Genius is redefined as capacity for sustained effort, emphasizing endurance and application over an image of effortless inspiration.

Source details

Thrift, Chapter I, “Industry,” Project Gutenberg #14418. Immediately after linking greatness in art, literature and science with labour, Smiles rhetorically defines genius as a capacity for intense and sustained effort; it is not treated as a modern psychological finding.

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No great work has ever been done “at a heat.” It is the result of repeated efforts, and often of many failures.
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“No great work has ever been done “at a heat.” It is the result of repeated efforts, and often of many failures.”

Samuel Smiles · Thrift · 1875
Meaning & context

Repeated attempts and failure are treated as normal parts of producing substantial work, countering the idea that important creation happens fully formed in one effort.

Source details

Thrift, Chapter I, “Industry,” Project Gutenberg #14418. The sentence immediately follows the poetry example and presents substantial work as the product of repeated effort and failure; the absolute wording is Smiles’s rhetorical generalization.

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That you must master the secret for yourselves lay implicit in our bargain, and you were never promised that a writer's training would be easy.
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“That you must master the secret for yourselves lay implicit in our bargain, and you were never promised that a writer's training would be easy.”

Arthur Quiller-Couch · On the Art of Writing · 1916
Meaning & context

Learning to write is presented as demanding practice rather than a shortcut: difficulty belongs to the training and does not by itself signal failure.

Source details

On the Art of Writing, Lecture XII, “On Style,” Project Gutenberg #17470; excerpted from Quiller-Couch’s reminder that students must master craft for themselves.

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