John Ruskin Quotes

"How false is the conception, how frantic the pursuit, of that treacherous phantom which men call Liberty: most treacherous, indeed, of all phantoms; for the feeblest ray of reason might surely show us, that not only its attainment, but its being, was impossible. There is no such thing in the universe. There can never be. The stars have it not; the earth has it not; the sea has it not; and we men have the mockery and semblance of it only for our heaviest punishment."

"Give a little to love a child, and you get a great deal back"

"It is not, truly speaking, the labor that is divided; but the men: divided into mere segments of men --broken into small fragments and crumbs of life, so that all the little piece of intelligence that is left in a man is not enough to make a pin, or a nail, but exhausts itself in making the point of a pin or the head of a nail."

"It takes a great deal of living to get a little deal of learning."

"The common practice of keeping up appearances with society is a mere selfish struggle of the vain with the vain."

"Nothing is ever done beautifully which is done in rivalship: or nobly, which is done in pride"

"Freedom is only granted us that obedience may be more perfect."

"No human being, however great, or powerful, was ever so free as a fish"

"It is eminently a weariable faculty, eminently delicate, and incapable of bearing fatigue; so that if we give it too many objects at a time to employ itself upon, or very grand ones for a long time together, it fails under the effort, becomes jaded, exactly as the limbs do by bodily fatigue, and incapable of answering any farther appeal till it has had rest."

"There is no wealth but life."

"Let every dawn of the morning be to you as the beginning of life. And let every setting of the sun be to you as its close. Then let everyone of these short lives leave its sure record of some kindly thing done for others; some good strength of knowledge gained for yourself."

"You should read books like you take medicine, by advice, and not by advertisement."

"The beginning and almost the end of all good law is that everyone shall work for their bread and receive good bread for their work."

"Mountains are to the rest of the body of the earth, what violent muscular action is to the body of man. The muscles and tendons of its anatomy are, in the mountain, brought out with force and convulsive energy, full of expression, passion, and strength."

"Conceit may puff a man up, but never prop him up"

"You will find that the mere resolve not to be useless, and the honest desire to help other people, will, in the quickest and delicatest ways, improve yourself."

"Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you."

"Skill is the unified force of experience, intellect and passion in their operation."

"The first test of a truly great man is his humility. By humility I don't mean doubt of his powers or hesitation in speaking his opinion, but merely an understanding of the relationship of what he can say and what he can do."

"Our duty is to preserve what the past has had to say for itself, and to say for ourselves what shall be true for the future"