All That We Know of Life

“Imperfection is in some sort essential to all that we know of life. . . . in all things that live there are certain irregularities and deficiencies which are not only signs of life, but sources of beauty. 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…”

– John Ruskin, “The Nature of Gothic”