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John Ruskin

John Ruskin Quotes

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Famous 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.”

MenReasonShowsMightEarthPoliticalUniversePoliticsStarsLibertyImpossibleSeaPursuitPunishmentConceptionRaysAttainmentMockeryPhantomsTreacherousFranticSemblance
Book:The stones of Venice (cont'd) Seven lamps of architecture. Lectures on architecture and painting, delivered at Edinburgh in Nov. 1853. An inquiry into some of the conditions at present affecting the study of architecture in our schools
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“But I beg you to observe that there is a wide difference between being captains or governors of work, and taking the profits of it. It does not follow, because you are general of an army, that you are to take all the treasure, or land, it wins; (if it fight for treasure or land); neither, because you are king of a nation, that you are to consume all the profits of the nation's work.”

IfsDoePoliticalFightingPoliticsWinningNationsDifferencesLandKingsArmyProfitWideTreasureGovernorsCaptains
Book:Selections and Essays
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“No architecture can be truly noble which is not imperfect.”

DesignNobleArchitectureImperfect
Book:On the nature of Gothic architecture: and herein of the true functions of the workman in art. Being the greater part of the 6th chapter of the 2nd vol. of 'Stones of Venice'. [48 p.].
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“Being thus prepared for us in all ways, and made beautiful, and good for food, and for building, and for instruments of our hands, this race of plants, deserving boundless affection and admiration from us, becomes, in proportion to their obtaining it, a nearly perfect test of our being in right temper of mind and way of life; so that no one can be far wrong in either who loves trees enough, and everyone is assuredly wrong in both who does not love them, if his life has brought them in his way.”

IfsWayLifeMindDoeMadeEnoughHandsBeautifulPerfectRaceTreeBuildingTestsInstrumentsPlantPreparedAffectionPreparationProportionAdmirationTemperBoundlessDeservingObtaining
Book:Pt. 6-9 of leaf beauty. of cloud beauty. of ideas of relation
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“Make yourselves nests of pleasant thoughts. None of us knows what fairy palaces we may build of beautiful thought-proof against all adversity. Bright fancies, satisfied memories, noble histories, faithful sayings, treasure houses of precious and restful thoughts, which care cannot disturb, nor pain make gloomy, nor poverty take away from us.”

KnowsMayCarePainBeautifulHouseMemoriesPovertyAdversityNobleProofTreasureSatisfiedFaithfulPleasantFancyFairyPalacesNestsGloomyRestfulBeautiful ThoughtsPleasant Thoughts
Book:The works of John Ruskin
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“It is not, truly speaking, the labour 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.”

MenLifeLittlesEnoughLeftPiecesHe ManBrokenMereLabourDividedNailsFragmentsPinsCrumbs
Book:The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings
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“Will you not covet such power as this, and seek such throne as this, and be no more housewives, but queens? There is no putting by that crown; queens you must always be; queens to your lovers; queens to your husbands and sons; queens of higher mystery to the world beyond. . . . But alas! you are too often idle and careless queens, grasping at majesty in the least things, while you abdicate it in the greatest.”

WorldMysterySonLoversHigherHusbandQueensCrownsIdleThronesAlasMajestyCarelessHousewifeGraspingYour Husband
Author:John Ruskin
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“Though nature is constantly beautiful, she does not exhibit her highest powers of beauty constantly, for then they would satiate us and pall upon our senses. It is necessary to their appreciation that they should be rarely shown. Her finest touches are things which must be watched for; her most perfect passages of beauty are the most evanescent.”

ShouldDoeBeautifulNaturePerfectHighestAppreciationSensesPassagesFinestExhibits
Book:Modern Painters
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“My entire delight was in observing without being myself noticed,- if I could have been invisible, all the better. . . to be in the midst of it, and rejoice and wonder at it, and help it if I could, - happier if it needed no help of mine, - this was the essential love of Nature in me, this the root of all that I have usefully become, and the light of all that I have rightly learned.”

IfsHas BeensHelpingLightNatureWonderMinesNeededEssentialsRootsDelightInvisibleIf I CouldMidstRejoiceCould Have BeenObservingBeing MyselfNature Love
Book:England and Its Aesthetes: Biography and Taste
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“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.”

IfsGivingLongTogetherTimeEffortFailingObjectsFailureLong TimeAppealsFacultyDelicateIncapableLimbsFatigueJadedTime Together
Book:Modern Painters: pt. 4. Of many things
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