Endurance is nobler than strength, and patience than beauty.
John RuskinRead
That country is the richest which nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human beings.
Interpretation
True wealth of a nation is found in the well-being of its citizens.
John Ruskin's quote emphasizes that the true measure of a nation's richness is not just in its material wealth, but in the number of happy and noble individuals it nurtures. It suggests that the quality of life and the ethical and emotional well-being of the population are fundamental to the prosperity and true richness of a society.
In practice
This quote can inspire a community service organization to focus on the well-being of individuals rather than just economic metrics.
Endurance is nobler than strength, and patience than beauty.
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.
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.
To be able to ask a question clearly is two-thirds of the way to getting it answered.
See that your children be taught, not only the labors of the earth, but the loveliness of it.
A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money.
The small things of life were often so much bigger than the great things . . . the trivial pleasure like cooking, one's home, little poems especially sad ones, solitary walks, funny things seen and overheard.
When we direct our thoughts properly i.e. 'Things could be worse but aren't', we can control our emotions... i.e. and feel relieved, grateful, satisfied, hopeful and happy
I think you can be depressed and flourish, I think you can have cancer and flourish, I think you can be divorced and flourish. When we believed that happiness was only smiling and good mood, that wasn't very good for people like me, people in the lower half of positive affectivity.
Happiness is not the reward of virtue, but is virtue itself; nor do we delight in happiness because we restrain from our lusts; but on the contrary, because we delight in it, therefore we are able to restrain them.
Everyone who has observed human behavior for more than thirty continuous seconds seems to have noticed that people are strongly, perhaps even primarily, perhaps even single-mindedly, motivated to feel happy.
That man is rich whose pleasures are the cheapest.
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