Explore Quotes by John Ruskin

Large fortunes are all founded either on the occupation of land, or lending or the taxation of labor.

Imaginary evils soon become real one by indulging our reflections on them.

I have not written in vain if I have heretofore done anything towards diminishing the reputation of the Renaissance landscape painting.

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.

Civilization is the making of civil persons.

The higher a man stands, the more the word vulgar becomes unintelligible to him.

Taste is the only morality. Tell me what you like and I'll tell you what you are.

There are no such things as Flowers there are only gladdened Leaves.

And remember, child, that nothing is ever done beautifully, which is done in rivalship; or nobly, which is done in pride.

The child who desires education will be bettered by it; the child who dislikes it disgraced.

No person who is not a great sculptor or painter can be an architect. If he is not a sculptor or painter, he can only be a builder.

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

No girl who is well bred, 'kind, and modest, is ever offensively plain; all real deformity means want of manners, or of heart.

No art can be noble which is incapable of expressing thought, and no art is capable of expressing thought which does not change.

It seems a fantastic paradox, but it is nevertheless a most important truth, that no architecture can be truly noble which is not imperfect.

I believe the right question to ask, respecting all ornament, is simply this; was it done with enjoyment, was the carver happy while he was about it?

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.

There is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.

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

He is the greatest artist who has embodied, in the sum of his works, the greatest number of the greatest ideas.

Better the rudest work that tells a story or records a fact, than the richest without meaning.