John Ruskin Quotes

A forest of all manner of trees is poor, if not disagreeable, in effect; a mass of one species of tree is sublime.

Childhood often holds a truth with its feeble finger, which the grasp of manhood cannot retain,--which it is the pride of utmost age to recover.

No picture can be good which deceives by its imitation, for the very reason that nothing can be beautiful which is not true.

If only the Geologists would let me alone, I could do very well, but those dreadful Hammers! I hear the clink of them at the end of every cadence of the Bible verses.

The greatest efforts of the race have always been traceable to the love of praise, as the greatest catastrophes to the love of pleasure.

The spirit needs several sorts of food of which knowledge is only one.

God intends no man to live in this world without working, but it seems to me no less evident that He intends every man to be happy in his work.

There is no law of history any more than of a kaleidoscope.

When the whole world turns clown, and paints itself red with its own hearts blood instead of vermilion, it is something else than comic.

Unless we perform divine service with every willing act of our life, we never perform it at all.

... no human actions ever were intended by the Maker of men to be guided by balances of expediency, but by balances of justice.

Production does not consist in things laboriously made, but in things serviceably consumable; and the question for the nation is not how much labour it employs, but how much life it produces.

It is only by labour that thought can be made healthy, and only by thought that labour can be made happy, and the two cannot be separated with impunity.

The scholar is early acquainted with every department of the impossible.

See! This our fathers did for us.

To watch the corn grow, and the blossoms set; to draw hard breath over ploughshare or spade; to read, to think, to love, to hope, to pray, — these are the things that make men happy.

If the design of the building be originally bad, the only virtue it can ever possess will be signs of antiquity.

Science studies the relations of things to each other: but art studies only their relations to man.

Science deals exclusively with things as they are in themselves; and art exclusively with things as they affect the human sense and human soul.

Drawing is a means of obtaining and communicating knowledge

The Spirit power begins in directing the Animal power to other than egoistic ends.

Engraving then, is, in brief terms, the Art of Scratch.

Imaginary evils soon become real one by indulging our reflections on them.

But whether thus submissively or not, at least be sure that you go to the author to get at his meaning, not to find yours.

Success by the laws of competition signifies a victory over others by obtaining the direction and profits of their work. This is the real source of all great riches.

There are many religions, but there is only one morality.

Your art is to be the praise of something that you love. It may only be the praise of a shell or a stone.

All great art is the expression of man's delight in God's work, not his own.

Science deals exclusively with things as they are in themselves.

All great song, from the first day when human lips contrived syllables, has been sincere song.

When men are rightly occupied, their amusement grows out of their work.

The relative majesty of buildings depends more on the weight and vigour of their masses than any other tribute of their design.

No one can explain how the notes of a Mozart melody, or the folds of a piece of Titian's drapery, produce their essential effects. If you do not feel it, no one can by reasoning make you feel it.

Society has sacrificed its virtues to the Goddess of Getting Along.

... Amongst all the mechanical poison that this terrible nineteenth century has poured upon men, it has given us at any rate one antidote - the Daguerreotype. (1845)

Architecture concerns itself only with those characters of an edifice which are above and beyond its common use.

Commerce is the agency by which the power of choice is obtained.

There is rough work to be done, and rough men must do it; there is gentle work to be done, and gentlemen must do it.

Once thoroughly our own, the knowledge ceases to give us pleasure.

Architecture ... the adaptation of form to resist force.

Failure is less attributable to either insufficiency of means or impatience of labours than to a confused understanding of the thing actually to be done.

No nation can last which has made a mob of itself, however generous at heart.

The wisest men are wise to the full in death.

Why is one man richer than another? Because he is more industrious, more persevering and more sagacious.

Levi's station in life was the receipt of custom; and Peter's, the shore of Galilee; and Paul's, the antechambers of the High- Priest, which "station in life" each had to leave, with brief notice.

Science has to do with facts, art with phenomena. To science, phenomena are of use only as they lead to facts; and to art, facts are of use only as they lead to phenomena.

The finer the nature, the more flaws it will show through the clearness of it; and it is a law of this universe that the best things shall be seldomest seen in their best form.

Surely our clergy need not be surprised at the daily increasing distrust in the public mind of the efficacy of prayer.

The force of the guinea you have in your pocket depends wholly on the default of a guinea in your neighbour's pocket. If he did not want it, it would be of no use to you.

Which of us?is to do the hard and dirty work for the restand for what pay? Who is to do the pleasant and clean work, and for what pay?