Quotes by John Ruskin

John Ruskin

John Ruskin

English art critic

Lived from: 1819 - 1900

Category: Media Country: FlagUnited Kingdom

Born: 8 february 1819 Died: 20 january 1900

  • An infinitude of tenderness is the chief gift and inheritance of all truly great men.
  • No art can be noble which is incapable of expressing thought, and no art is capable of expressing thought which does not change.
  • What right have you to take the word wealth, which originally meant ''well-being,'' and degrade and narrow it by confining it to certain sorts of material objects measured by money.
  • Modern education has devoted itself to the teaching of impudence, and then we complain that we can no longer control our mobs.
  • Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies, for instance.
  • It is excellent discipline for an author to feel that he must say all that he has to say in the fewest possible words, or his readers is sure to skip them.
  • Obey something, and you will have a chance to learn what is best to obey. But if you begin by obeying nothing, you will end by obeying the devil and all his invited friends.
  • Of all the things that oppress me, this sense of the evil working of nature herself - my disgust at her barbarity -clumsiness - darkness - bitter mockery of herself - is the most desolating.
  • No person who is well bred, kind and modest is ever offensively plain; all real deformity means want for manners or of heart.
  • There is really no such thing as bad weather, only differend kinds of good weather.
  • 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.
  • You cannot get anything out of nature or from God by gambling; only out of your neighbor.
  • Of all God's gifts to the sighted man, color is holiest, the most divine, the most solemn.
  • Man's only true happiness is to live in hope of something to be won by him. Reverence something to be worshipped by him, and love something to be cherished by him, forever.
  • No one can become rich by the efforts of only their toil, but only by the discovery of some method of taxing the labor of others.
  • Men are more evanescent than pictures, yet one sorrows for lost friends, and pictures are my friends. I have none others. I am never long enough with men to attach myself to them; and whatever feelings of attachment I have are to material things.
  • Men don't and can't live by exchanging articles, but by producing them. They don't live by trade, but by work. Give up that foolish and vain title of Trades Unions; and take that of laborers Unions.
  • Men cannot not live by exchanging articles, but producing them. They live by work not trade.
  • Every great man is always being helped by everybody; for his gift is to get good out of all things and all persons.
+16

Search within the quotes from John Ruskin for these words:

Quotes 1 till 20 of 133.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next 
  • Children see in their parents the past, their parents see in them the future; and if we find more love in the parents for their children than in children for their parents, this is sad but natural. Who does not entertain his hopes more than his recollections.
    ― John Ruskin
    - +
    +4
  • An infinitude of tenderness is the chief gift and inheritance of all truly great men.
    ― John Ruskin
    - +
    +1
  • Civilization is the making of civil persons.
    ― John Ruskin
    - +
    +1
  • The great cry that rises from all our manufacturing cities, louder than the furnace blast, is all in very deed for this - that we manufacture everything there except men.
    ― John Ruskin
    - +
    +1
  • The last act crowns the play.
    ― John Ruskin
    - +
    +1
  • A book worth reading is worth buying.
    ― John Ruskin
    - +
     0
  • A great thing can only be done by a great person; and they do it without effort.
    ― John Ruskin
    - +
     0
  • A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money.
    ― John Ruskin
    - +
     0
  • A thing is worth what it can do for you, not what you choose to pay for it.
    ― John Ruskin
    - +
     0
  • All books are divisible into two classes: the books of the hour, and the books of all time.
    Sesame and lilies
    ― John Ruskin
    - +
     0
  • An architect should live as little in cities as a painter. Send him to our hills, and let him study there what nature understands by a buttress, and what by a dome.
    ― John Ruskin
    - +
     0
  • An unimaginative person can neither be reverent or kind.
    ― John Ruskin
    - +
     0
  • Be sure that you go to the author to get at his meaning, not to find yours.
    ― John Ruskin
    - +
     0
  • Better the rudest work that tells a story or records a fact, than the richest without meaning.
    The seven lamps of architecture
    ― John Ruskin
    - +
     0
  • Books are divided into two classes, the books of the hour and the books of all time.
    ― John Ruskin
    - +
     0
  • Cursing is invoking the assistance of a spirit to help you inflict suffering. Swearing on the other hand, is invoking, only the witness of a spirit to an statement you wish to make.
    ― John Ruskin
    - +
     0
  • Doing is the great thing, for if people resolutely do what is right, they come in time to like doing it.
    ― John Ruskin
    - +
     0
  • Every great man is always being helped by everybody; for his gift is to get good out of all things and all persons.
    ― John Ruskin
    - +
     0
  • Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness.
    ― John Ruskin
    - +
     0
  • Everything costs its own cost, and one of our best virtues is a just desire to pay it.
    ― John Ruskin
    - +
     0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next 
All John Ruskin famous quotes and sayings you will always find on greatest-quotations.com

Popular subjects

Popular authors

Questions and Answers

What are the most famous quotes from John Ruskin?

The two most famous quotes from John Ruskin are:

  • "Children see in their parents the past, their parents see in them the future; and if we find more love in the parents for their children than in children for their parents, this is sad but natural. Who does not entertain his hopes more than his recollections."
  • "An infinitude of tenderness is the chief gift and inheritance of all truly great men."

When did John Ruskin live?

John Ruskin was born in 1819 and died in the year 1900.