Endurance is nobler than strength, and patience than beauty.
John RuskinRead
He who is not actively kind is cruel!
Interpretation
What this quote means
Lack of kindness can lead to cruelty, as failing to act kindly harms others.
This quote emphasizes the importance of kindness as an active choice. It suggests that simply being neutral or passive can contribute to cruelty or harm, as inaction in the face of the opportunity to be kind can have negative consequences for others. Active kindness is portrayed as a moral obligation, where choosing not to help or show compassion is akin to being cruel.
Themes
KindnessCrueltyActionCompassionMorality
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of community service.
More from John Ruskin
All quotes →In health of mind and body, men should see with their own eyes, hear and speak without trumpets, walk on their feet, not on wheels, and work and war with their arms, not with engine-beams, nor rifles warranted to kill twenty men at a shot before you can see them.
John RuskinRead
You talk of the scythe of Time, and the tooth of Time: I tell you, Time is scytheless and toothless; it is we who gnaw like the worm - we who smite like the scythe. It is ourselves who abolish - ourselves who consume: we are the mildew, and the flame.
John RuskinRead
To be able to ask a question clearly is two-thirds of the way to getting it answered.
John RuskinRead
See that your children be taught, not only the labors of the earth, but the loveliness of it.
John RuskinRead
A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money.
John RuskinRead
Similar quotes
In depression . . . faith in deliverance, in ultimate restoration, is absent. The pain is unrelenting, and what makes the condition intolerable is the foreknowledge that no remedy will come - - not in a day, an hour, a month, or a minute . . . It is hopelessness even more than pain that crushes the soul.
William StyronRead
I've a theory that one can always get anything one wants if one will pay the price. And do you know what the price is, nine times out of ten? Compromise.
Agatha ChristieRead
I discover myself on the verge of a usual mistake.
Walt WhitmanRead
I was looking in the mirror the other day and I realized I haven't changed much since I was in my twenties. The only difference is I look a whole lot older now.
George CarlinRead
Every Christian man has a choice between being humble and being humbled.
Charles SpurgeonRead
Once I start work on a project, I don’t stop and I don’t slow down unless I absolutely have to. If I don’t write every day, the characters begin to stale off in my mind – they begin to seem like characters instead of real people. The tale’s narrative cutting edge starts to rust and I begin to lose my hold on the story’s plot and pace. Worst of all, the excitement of spinning something new begins to fade. The work starts to feel like work, and for most writers that is the smooch of death.
Stephen KingRead