John Ruskin Quotes
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... 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 forever.
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Sky is the part of creation in which Nature has done more for the sake of pleasing man, more for the sole and evident purpose of talking to him and teaching him, than in any other of her works, and it is just the part in which we least attend to her.
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I cannot but think it an evil sign of a people when their houses are built to last for one generation only.
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The very cheapness of literature is making even wise people forget that if a book is worth reading, it is worth buying. No book is worth anything which is not worth much; nor is it serviceable, until it has been read, and re-read, and loved, and loved again; and marked, so that you can refer to the passages you want in it.
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He who is not actively kind is cruel!
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The constant duty of every man to his fellows is to ascertain his own powers and special gifts, and to strengthen them for the help of others.
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You cannot have good architecture merely by asking people's advice on occasion. All good architecture is the expression of national life and character; and it is produced by a prevalent and eager national taste, or desire for beauty.
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The beauty of the animal form is in exact proportion to the amount of moral and intellectual virtue expressed by it.
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Science lives only in quiet places, and with odd people, mostly poor.
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You will never love art well until you love what she mirrors better.
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Your labor only may be sold, your soul must not.
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The spirit needs several sorts of food of which knowledge is only one.
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You cannot get anything out of nature or from God by gambling; only out of your neighbor.
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Wherever men are noble, they love bright colour; and wherever they can live healthily, bright colour is given them—in sky, sea, flowers, and living creatures.
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No day is without its innocent hope.
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If you do not wish for His kingdom do not pray for it. But if you do you must do more than pray for it, you must work for it.
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God never imposes a duty without giving time to do it.
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Greatness is the aggregation of minuteness; nor can its sublimity be felt truthfully by any mind unaccustomed to the affectionate watching of what is least.
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What is poetry? The suggestion, by the imagination, of noble grounds for the noble emotions.
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The proof of a thing's being right is that it has power over the heart; that it excites us, wins us, or helps us.
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I've seen the Rhine with younger wave, O'er every obstacle to rave. I see the Rhine in his native wild Is still a mighty mountain child.
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There are many religions, but there is only one morality.
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Imperfection is in some sort essential to all that we know in life.
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I would have, then, our ordinary dwelling-houses built to last, and built to be lovely; as rich and full of pleasantness as may be within and without: . . . with such differences as might suit and express each man's character and occupation, and partly his history.