This little quote by John Ruskin is in defense of his writing. He's frustrated that so many don't know the rules of grammar and so they misunderstand what he says, or they haven't the patience to study it out. 

Downright Facts Plainly Told.

  "I have been much impressed lately by one of the results of the quantity of our books; namely, the stern impossibility of getting anything understood, that requires patience to understand. 

I observe always, in the case of my own writings, that if ever I state anything which has cost me any trouble to ascertain, and which, therefore, will probably require a minute of two of reflection from the reader before it can be accepted, --that the statement will not only be misunderstood, but in all probability will be taken to mean something very nearly the reverse of what it does mean.

  Now, whatever faults there may be in my modes of expression, I know that the words I use will always be found, by Johnson;'s dictionary, to bear, first of all, the sense I use them in; and that the sentences, whether awkwardly turned or not, will, by the ordinary rules of grammar, bear no other interpretation than what I mean them to bear; so that the misunderstanding of them just result, ultimately, from the mere fact that their matter sometimes requires a little patience." John Ruskin