John Ruskin quotes are thought-provoking, memorable and inspiring. From views on society and politics to thoughts on love and life, John Ruskin has a lot to say. In this list we present the 104 best John Ruskin quotes, in no particular order. Let yourself get inspired!
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John Ruskin quotes
It is better to lose your pride with someone you love rather than to lose that someone you love with your useless pride.
— John Ruskin
All art is but dirtying the paper delicately.
— John Ruskin, The Elements of Drawing
He who has truth at his heart need never fear the want of persuasion on his tongue.
— John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice: Volume I. The Foundations
To speak and act truth with constancy and precision is nearly as difficult, and perhaps as meretorious, as to speak it under intimidation or penalty
— John Ruskin, The Seven Lamps of Architecture
For, truly, the man who does not know when to die, does not know how to live.
— John Ruskin, Unto This Last
To be taught to read—what is the use of that, if you know not whether what you read is false or true? To be taught to write or to speak—but what is the use of speaking, if you have nothing to say? To be taught to think—nay, what is the use of being able to think, if you have nothing to think of? But to be taught to see is to gain word and thought at once, and both true.
— John Ruskin, The Works of John Ruskin: Library Edition. 39 vols.
the true knowledge is disciplined and tested knowledge, —not the first thought that comes, so the true passion is disciplined and tested passion, —not the first passion that comes. The first that come are the vain, the false, the treacherous; if you yield to them they will lead you wildly and far, in vain pursuit, in hollow enthusiasm, till you have no true purpose and no true passion left. Not that any feeling possible to humanity is in itself wrong, but only wrong when undisciplined.
— John Ruskin, Sesame and Lilies
Education does not mean teaching people what they do not know. It means teaching them to behave as they do not behave.
— John Ruskin
There is no wealth but life.
— John Ruskin, The King of the Golden River
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
— John Ruskin
All books are divisible into two classes: the books of the hours, and the books of all Time.
— John Ruskin, Sesame and Lilies
It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. Whenyou pay too much, you lose a little money – that’s all. When you paytoo little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing youbought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. Thecommon law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting alot – it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is wellto add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you willhave enough to pay for something better.
— John Ruskin
Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless.
— John Ruskin
You can only possess beauty through understanding it.
— John Ruskin
It does not much matter that an individual loses two or three hundred pounds in buying a bad picture, but it is to be regretted that a nation should lose two or three hundred thousand in raising a ridiculous building.
— John Ruskin
Nearly all our associations are determined by chance or necessity; and restricted within a narrow circle. We cannot know whom we would; and those whom we know, we cannot have at our side when we most need them. All the higher circles of human intelligence are, to those beneath, only momentarily and partially open… there is a society continually open to us, of people who will talk to us as long as we like, whatever our rank or occupation; — talk to us in the best words they can choose, and of the things nearest their hearts. And this society, because it is so numerous and so gentle, and can be kept waiting around us all day long, — kings and statesmen lingering patiently, not to grant audience, but to gain it! — in those plainly furnished and narrow ante-rooms, our bookcase shelves, — we make no account of that company, — perhaps never listen to a word they would say, all day long!
— John Ruskin, Unto This Last and Other Writings
We are always in these days endeavoring to separate intellect and manual labor; we want one man to be always thinking, and another to be always working, and we call one a gentleman, and the other an operative; whereas the workman ought often to be thinking, and the thinker often to be working, and both should be gentlemen in the best sense.
— John Ruskin
A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small parcel.
— John Ruskin
And observe, you are put to stern choice in this matter. You must either make a tool of the creature, or a man of him. You cannot make both. Men were not intended to work with the accuracy of tools, to be precise and perfect in all their actions. If you will have that precision out of them, and make their fingers measure degrees like cogwheels, and their arms strike curves like compasses, you must unhumanize them. All the energy of their spirits must be given to make cogs and compasses of themselves….On the other hand, if you will make a man of the working creature, you cannot make a tool. Let him but begin to imagine, to think, to try to do anything worth doing; and the engine-turned precision is lost at once. Out come all his roughness; all his dullness, all his incapability; shame upon shame, failure upon failure, pause after pause: but out comes the whole majesty of him also, and we know the height of it only, when we see the clouds settling upon him.
— John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice
Say all you have to say in the fewest possible words, or your reader will be sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words or he will certainly misunderstand them.
— John Ruskin
Reading and writing are not education if they do not help people to be kind to all creatures
— John Ruskin
No changing of place at a hundred miles an hour will make us one whit stronger, or happier, or wiser. There was always more in the world than man could see, walked they ever so slowly; they will see it no better for going fast. The really precious things are thought and sight, not pace. It does a bullet no good to go fast; and a man, if he be truly a man, no harm to go slow; for his glory is not at all in going, but in being.
— John Ruskin
Modern traveling is not traveling at all; it is merely being sent to a place, and very little different from becoming a parcel.
— John Ruskin
So far, therefore, as the science of exchange relates to the advantage of one of the exchanging persons only, it is founded on the ignorance or incapacity of the opposite person. . . . It is therefore a science founded on nescience. . . . This science, alone of sciences, must, by all available means, promulgate and prolong its opposite nescience. . . . It is therefore peculiarly and alone science of darkness.
— John Ruskin, Unto This Last
Taste is not only a part and index of morality, it is the only morality. The first, and last, and closest trial question to any living creature is “What do you like?” Tell me what you like, I’ll tell you what you are.
— John Ruskin
I believe that the first test of a great man is his humility. I don’t mean by humility, doubt of his power. But really great men have a curious feeling that the greatness is not of them, but through them. And they see something divine in every other man and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful.
— John Ruskin
Cookery means…English thoroughness, French art, and Arabian hospitality; it means the knowledge of all fruits and herbs and balms and spices; it means carefulness, inventiveness, and watchfulness.
— John Ruskin
And whether consciously or not, you must be in many a heart enthroned: queens you must always be: queens to your lovers; queens to your husbands and sons; queens of higher mystery to the world beyond, which bows itself, and will forever bow, before the myrtle crown, and the stainless scepter of womanhood.
— John Ruskin
To be content in utter darkness and ignorance is indeed unmanly, and therefore we think that to love light and find knowledge must always be right. Yet wherever pride has any share in the work, even knowledge and light may be ill pursued. Knowledge is good, and light is good: yet man perished in seeking knowledge, and moths perish in seeking light; and if we, who are crushed before the moth, will not accept such mystery as is needful to us, we shall perish in like manner.
— John Ruskin
The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something and what it saw in a plain way. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion–all in one.
— John Ruskin
Modern science gives lectures on botany, to show there is no such thing as a flower; on humanity, to show there is no such thing as a man; and on theology, to show there is no such thing as a God. No such thing as a man, but only a mechanism, No such thing as a God, but only a series of forces.
— John Ruskin
Occult Theft, –Theft which hides itself even from itself, and is legal, respectable, and cowardly, –corrupts the body and soul of man, to the last fibre of them. And the guilty Thieves of Europe, the real sources of all deadly war in it, are the Capitalists
— John Ruskin, The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings
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, to check exertion, to paralyze vitality. All things are literally better, lovelier, and more beloved for the imperfections which have been divinely appointed, that the law of human life may be Effort, and the law of human judgment, Mercy.
— John Ruskin
Every increased possession loads us with new weariness.
— John Ruskin
What we think, or what we know, or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do.
— John Ruskin
Let us then understand at once that change or variety is as much a necessity to the human heart and brain in buildings as in books; that there is no merit, though there is some occasional use, in monotony; and that we must no more expect to derive either pleasure or profit from an architecture whose ornaments are of one pattern, and whose pillars are of one proportion, than we should of a universe in which the clouds were all of one shape, and the trees all of one shape.
— John Ruskin, The Nature Of Gothic
It is evident that the chief feeling induced by woody country is one of reverence for its antiquity. There is a quiet melancholy about the decay of the patriarchal trunks, which is enhanced by the green and elastic vigor of the young saplings; the noble form of the forest aisles, and the subdued light which penetrates their entangled boughs, combine to add to the impression; and the whole character of the scene is calculated to excite conservative feeling. The man who could remain a radical in a wood country is a disgrace to his species.
— John Ruskin
One of the major obstacles impeding any positive future change in our lives is that we are too busy with our current work or activity. Levi quit his tax-work, Peter stopped fishing at lake, Paul ceased being a priest. They all left their jobs because they thought it was necessary.
— John Ruskin
God alone can finish.
— John Ruskin
All that is good in art is the expression of one soul talking to another and is precious according to the greatness of the soul that utters it.
— John Ruskin
No architecture can be truly noble which is not imperfect.
— John Ruskin
Fine art is that in which the hand the head and the heart of man go together.
— John Ruskin
Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless peacocks and lilies for instance.
— John Ruskin
The beauty of the animal form is in exact proportion to the amount of moral and intellectual virtue expressed by it.
— John Ruskin
Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless peacocks and lilies for instance.
— John Ruskin
If a book is worth reading it is worth buying.
— John Ruskin
Sunshine is delicious rain is refreshing wind braces us snow is exhilarating there is no such thing as bad weather only different kinds of good weather.
— John Ruskin
There is hardly anything in the world that some man can’t make a little worse and sell a little cheaper and the people who consider price only are this man’s lawful prey.
— John Ruskin
Cheerfulness is as natural to the heart of man in strong health as color to his cheek and wherever there is habitual gloom there must be either bad air unwholesome food improperly severe labor or erring habits of life.
— John Ruskin
God gives us always strength enough and sense enough for everything He wants us to do.
— John Ruskin
To make your children capable of honesty is the beginning of education.
— John Ruskin
Sunshine is delicious rain is refreshing wind braces us up snow is exhilarating there is really no such thing as bad weather only different kinds of good weather.
— John Ruskin
When I have been unhappy I have heard an opera … and it seemed the shrieking of winds when I am happy a sparrow’s chirp is delicious to me. But it is not the chirp that makes me happy but I that make it sweet.
— John Ruskin
I know well that happiness is in little things.
— John Ruskin
When men are rightly occupied their amusement grows out of their work as the color-petals out of a fruitful flower.
— John Ruskin
I believe the first test of a truly great man is his humility.
— John Ruskin
When love and skill work together expect a masterpiece.
— John Ruskin
No one can do me any good by loving me I have more love than I need or could do any good with but people do me good by making me love them – which isn’t easy.
— John Ruskin
The greatest efforts of the race have always been traceable to the love of praise as the greatest catastrophes to the love of pleasure.
— John Ruskin
Endurance is nobler than strength and patience than beauty.
— John Ruskin
The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love colour the most.
— John Ruskin
Dream lofty dreams and as you dream so shall you become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall at last unveil.
— John Ruskin
When men are rightfully occupied then their amusement grows out of their work as the color petals out of a fruitful garden.
— John Ruskin
The weakest among us has a gift however seemingly trivial which is peculiar to him and which worthily used will be a gift also to his race.
— John Ruskin
When a man is wrapped up in himself he makes a pretty small package.
— John Ruskin
Shadows are in reality when the sun is shining the most conspicuous thing in a landscape next to the highest lights.
— John Ruskin
Sometimes gentle sometimes capricious sometimes awful never the same for two moments together almost human in its passions almost spiritual in its tenderness almost Divine in its infinity.
— John Ruskin
Absolute and entire ugliness is rare.
— John Ruskin
The highest reward for man’s toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it.
— John Ruskin
When love and skill work together expect a masterpiece.
— John Ruskin
Let every dawn be to you as the beginning of life, and every setting sun be to you as its close.
— John Ruskin
When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.
— John Ruskin
Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of intelligent effort.
— John Ruskin
All great art is the work of the whole living creature, body and soul, and chiefly of the soul.
— John Ruskin
Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.
— John Ruskin
It is written on the arched sky it looks out from every star. It is the poetry of Nature it is that which uplifts the spirit within us.
— John Ruskin
The sky is the part of creation in which nature has done for the sake of pleasing man.
— John Ruskin
The work of science is to substitute facts for appearances, and demonstrations for impressions.
— John Ruskin
Music when healthy, is the teacher of perfect order, and when depraved, the teacher of perfect disorder.
— John Ruskin
Endurance is nobler than strength, and patience than beauty.
— John Ruskin
The strength and power of a country depends absolutely on the quantity of good men and women in it.
— John Ruskin
No lying knight or lying priest ever prospered in any age, but especially not in the dark ones. Men prospered then only in following an openly declared purpose, and preaching candidly beloved and trusted creeds.
— John Ruskin
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.
— John Ruskin
Give a little love to a child, and you get a great deal back.
— John Ruskin
It is impossible, as impossible as to raise the dead, to restore anything that has ever been great or beautiful in architecture. That which I have insisted upon as the life of the whole, that spirit which is given only by the hand and eye of the workman, can never be recalled.
— John Ruskin
We require from buildings two kinds of goodness: first, the doing their practical duty well: then that they be graceful and pleasing in doing it.
— John Ruskin
It seems a fantastic paradox, but it is nevertheless a most important truth, that no architecture can be truly noble which is not imperfect.
— John Ruskin
No architecture is so haughty as that which is simple.
— John Ruskin
You might sooner get lightning out of incense smoke than true action or passion out of your modern English religion.
— John Ruskin
To see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion all in one.
— John Ruskin
There is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.
— John Ruskin
Skill is the unified force of experience, intellect and passion in their operation.
— John Ruskin
Art is not a study of positive reality, it is the seeking for ideal truth.
— John Ruskin
A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money.
— John Ruskin
I believe the first test of a truly great man is in his humility.
— John Ruskin
Every great person is always being helped by everybody for their gift is to get good out of all things and all persons.
— John Ruskin
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.
— John Ruskin
Beauty deprived of its proper foils and adjuncts ceases to be enjoyed as beauty, just as light deprived of all shadows ceases to be enjoyed as light.
— John Ruskin
Fine art is that in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go together.
— John Ruskin
The first condition of education is being able to put someone to wholesome and meaningful work.
— John Ruskin
Modern education has devoted itself to the teaching of impudence, and then we complain that we can no longer control our mobs.
— John Ruskin
Education is the leading of human souls to what is best, and making what is best out of them.
— John Ruskin
In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: They must be fit for it. They must not do too much of it. And they must have a sense of success in it.
— John Ruskin
The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world… to see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion all in one.
— John Ruskin
He that would be angry and sin not, must not be angry with anything but sin.
— John Ruskin
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