1819-1900, British Critic, Social Theorist
A book worth reading is worth buying.
John Ruskin – [Books and Reading]


A great thing can only be done by a great person; and they do it without effort.
John Ruskin – [Greatness]


A thing is worth what it can do for you, not what you choose to pay for it.
John Ruskin – [Cost]


Along the iron veins that traverse the frame of our country, beat and flow the fiery pulses of its exertion, hotter and faster every hour. All vitality is concentrated through those throbbing arteries into the central cities; the country is passed over like a green sea by narrow bridges, and we are thrown back in continually closer crowds on the city gates.
John Ruskin – [Trains]


An architect should live as little in cities as a painter. Send him to our hills, and let him study there what nature understands by a buttress, and what by a dome.
John Ruskin – [Architecture]


An infinitude of tenderness is the chief gift and inheritance of all truly great men.
John Ruskin – [Inheritance]


An unimaginative person can neither be reverent or kind.
John Ruskin – [Imagination]


Be sure that you go to the author to get at his meaning, not to find yours.
John Ruskin – [Books and Reading]


Books are divided into two classes, the books of the hour and the books of all time.
John Ruskin – [Books and Reading]


Children see in their parents the past, their parents see in them the future; and if we find more love in the parents for their children than in children for their parents, this is sad but natural. Who does not entertain his hopes more than his recollections.
John Ruskin – [Children]


Civilization is the making of civil persons.
John Ruskin – [Civilization]


Cursing is invoking the assistance of a spirit to help you inflict suffering. Swearing on the other hand, is invoking, only the witness of a spirit to an statement you wish to make.
John Ruskin – [Curses]


Doing is the great thing, for if people resolutely do what is right, they come in time to like doing it.
John Ruskin – [Enjoyment]


Every great man is always being helped by everybody; for his gift is to get good out of all things and all persons.
John Ruskin – [Aid and Assistance]


Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness.
John Ruskin – [Possessions]


Fit yourself for the best society, and then, never enter it.
John Ruskin – [Status]


Freedom is only granted us that obedience may be more perfect.
John Ruskin – [Freedom]


Give little love to a child, and you get a great deal back.
John Ruskin – [Giving]


Government and cooperation are in all things the laws of life. Anarchy and competition, the laws of death.
John Ruskin – [Unity]


Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts — the book of their deeds, the book of their words and the book of their art.
John Ruskin – [Nations]

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