John Ruskin Quotes - Page 15

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He who has learned what is commonly considered the whole art of painting, that is, the art of representing any natural object faithfully, has as yet only learned the language by which his thoughts are to be expressed.

John Ruskin

Art, Painting, Language

John Ruskin, Louisa Caroline Tuthill (1872). “The True and the Beautiful in Nature, Art, Morals, and Religion, Selected from the Works of John Ruskin”, p.242

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Architecture concerns itself only with those characters of an edifice which are above and beyond its common use.

John Ruskin

Character, Use, Common

John Ruskin (1849). “The Seven Lamps of Architecture”, p.8

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Commerce is the agency by which the power of choice is obtained.

John Ruskin

Agency, Choices, Commerce

John Ruskin (1872). “The Works of John Ruskin”, p.95

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We have much studied and much perfected, of late, the great civilized invention of the division of labour; only we give it a false name. It is not, truly speaking, the labour that is divided; but the men.

John Ruskin

Men, Names, Giving

John Ruskin, John D. Rosenberg (1964). “The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings”, p.180, University of Virginia Press

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... no human actions ever were intended by the Maker of men to be guided by balances of expediency, but by balances of justice.

John Ruskin

Men, Justice, Political

John Ruskin (1872). “"Unto this Last": Four Essays on the First Principles of Political Economy”, p.21

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The power of association is stronger than the power of beauty; therefore, the power of association is the power of beauty.

John Ruskin

Power, Stronger, Association

John Ruskin (1849). “Of ideas of beauty”, p.32

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We are only advancing in life, whose hearts are getting softer, our blood warmer, our brains quicker, and our spirits entering into living peace.

John Ruskin

Heart, Character, Blood

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The man who can see all gray, and red, and purples in a peach, will paint the peach rightly round, and rightly altogether. But the man who has only studied its roundness may not see its purples and grays, and if he does not will never get it to look like a peach; so that great power over color is always a sign of large general art-intellect.

John Ruskin

Art, Men, Color

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See! This our fathers did for us.

John Ruskin

Father, Our Father

John Ruskin, John D. Rosenberg (1964). “The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings”, p.132, University of Virginia Press

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If you do not wish for His kingdom do not pray for it. But if you do you must do more than pray for it, you must work for it.

John Ruskin

Work, Wish, Kingdoms

John Ruskin (2016). “The Crown of Wild Olive”, p.62, John Ruskin

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Science deals exclusively with things as they are in themselves.

John Ruskin

Science, Deals

John Ruskin (1867). “The stones of Venice.-3 vol”, p.39

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If a book is worth reading, it is worth buying.

John Ruskin

Reading, Book, Buying

John Ruskin, John D. Rosenberg (1964). “The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings”, p.306, University of Virginia Press

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The highest thoughts are those which are least dependent on language, and the dignity of any composition and praise to which it is entitled are in exact proportion to its dependency of language or expression.

John Ruskin

Expression, Dignity, Language

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... Amongst all the mechanical poison that this terrible nineteenth century has poured upon men, it has given us at any rate one antidote - the Daguerreotype. (1845)

John Ruskin

Men, Poison, Daguerreotypes

Robert Hewison, Ian Warrell, John Ruskin, Stephen Wildman, Tate Britain (Gallery) (2000). “Ruskin, Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites”, Tate Gallery Pubn

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The power of painter or poet to describe what he calls an ideal thing depends upon its being to him not an ideal but a real thing. No man ever did or ever will work well but either from actual sight or sight of faith.

John Ruskin

Art, Real, Men

John Ruskin (1859). “Modern Painters: (pt.4) Modern painters of many things”, p.83

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And with respect to the mode in which these general principles affect the secure possession of property, so far am I from invalidating such security, that the whole gist of these papers will be found ultimately to aim at an extension in its range; and whereas it has long been known and declared that the poor have no right to the property of the rich, I wish it also to be known and declared that the rich have no right to the property of the poor.

John Ruskin

Long, Wish, Principles

Unto This Last Essay 3 (1862)

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Though you may have known clever men who were indolent, you never knew a great man who was so; and when I hear a young man spoken of as giving promise of great genius, the first question I ask about him always is, Does he work?

John Ruskin

Clever, Work, Men

John Ruskin, Christine Roth (2004). “The Two Paths”, p.69, Parlor Press LLC

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Inequalities of wealth, unjustly established, have assuredly injured the nation in which they exist during their establishment; and, unjustly directed, they injure it yet more during their existence. But inequalities of wealth justly established, benefit the nation in the course of their establishment; and, nobly used, aid it yet more by their existence.

John Ruskin

Benefits, Wealth, Aids

John Ruskin (2001). “Unto this Last”, p.29, Electric Book Company

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Nearly all the evils in the Church have arisen from bishops desiring power more than light. They want authority, not outlook.

John Ruskin

Power, Light, Evil

John Ruskin, John D. Rosenberg (1964). “The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings”, p.300, University of Virginia Press

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You must get into the habit of looking intensely at words, and assuring yourself of their meaning, syllable by syllable-nay, letter by letter... you might read all the books in the British Museum (if you could live long enough) and remain an utterly "illiterate," undeducated person; but if you read ten pages of a good book, letter by letter, - that is to say, with real accuracy- you are for evermore in some measure an educated person.

John Ruskin

Real, Book, Museums

John Ruskin, John D. Rosenberg (1964). “The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings”, p.297, University of Virginia Press

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There is large difference between indolent impatience of labor and intellectual impatience of delay, large difference between leaving things unfinished because we have more to do or because we are satisfied with what we have done.

John Ruskin

Differences, Leaving, Intellectual

John Ruskin (1855). “Modern Painters: pt. 4. Of many things”, p.82

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Sky is the part of creation in which Nature has done more for the sake of pleasing man, more for the sole and evident purpose of talking to him and teaching him, than in any other of her works, and it is just the part in which we least attend to her.

John Ruskin

Teaching, Men, Sky

John Ruskin (2013). “Selections and Essays”, p.30, Courier Corporation

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I do not mean to call an elephant a vulgar animal, but if you think about him carefully, you will find that his nonvulgarity consists in such gentleness as is possible to elephantine nature-not in his insensitive hide, nor in his clumsy foot, but in the way he will lift his foot if a child lies in his way; and in his sensitive trunk, and still more sensitive mind, and capability of pique on points of honor.

John Ruskin

Children, Lying, Mean

John Ruskin (1868). “pt. VI: Of leaf beauty. pt. VII: Of cloud beauty. pts. VIII-IX: Of ideas of relation”, p.278

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It is, indeed, right that we should look for, and hasten, so far as in us lies, the coming of the day of God; but not that we should check any human effort by anticipations of its approach. We shall hasten it best by endeavoring to work out the tasks that are appointed for us here; and, therefore, reasoning as if the world were to continue under its existing dispensation, and the powers which have just been granted to us were to be continued through myriads of future ages.

John Ruskin

Lying, Work Out, Effort

John Ruskin (1867). “The Stones of Venice”, p.167

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Production does not consist in things laboriously made, but in things serviceably consumable; and the question for the nation is not how much labour it employs, but how much life it produces.

John Ruskin

Political, Doe, Politics

John Ruskin, John D. Rosenberg (1964). “The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings”, p.269, University of Virginia Press

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Born: February 8, 1819
Died: January 20, 1900
Occupation: Art critic
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