John Ruskin Quotes - Page 23

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It is impossible to tell you the perfect sweetness of the lips and closed eyes, nor the solemnity of the seal of death which is set upon the whole figure. It is, in every way, perfect--truth itself, but truth selected with inconceivable refinement of feeling.

John Ruskin

Eye, Perfect, Feelings

John Ruskin (1903). “The Works of John Ruskin”

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Wise laws and just restraints are to a noble nation not chains, but chains of mail, -- strength and defense, though something of an incumbrance.

John Ruskin

Wise, Law, Liberty

John Ruskin (1900). “Complete Works”

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Work first and then rest. Work first, and then gaze, but do not use golden ploughshares, nor bind ledgers in enamel.

John Ruskin

Use, Golden, Firsts

John Ruskin (1849). “The Seven Lamps of Architecture”, p.109

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Ornamentation is the principal part of architecture, considered as a subject of fine art.

John Ruskin

Art, Architecture, Fine

John Ruskin (2015). “Lectures on Architecture and Painting”, p.82, John Ruskin

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It is not so much in buying pictures as in being pictures, that you can encourage a noble school. The best patronage of art is not that which seeks for the pleasures of sentiment in a vague ideality, nor for beauty of form in a marble image, but that which educates your children into living heroes, and binds down the flights and the fondnesses of the heart into practical duty and faithful devotion.

John Ruskin

Art, Children, Hero

John Ruskin, Louisa Caroline Tuthill (1867). “Precious Thoughts: Moral and Religious. Gathered from the Works of John Ruskin, A. M.”, p.77

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A gentleman's first characteristic is that fineness of structure in the body which renders it capable of the most delicate sensation; and of structure in the mind which renders it capable of the most delicate sympathies; one may say simply "fineness of nature.

John Ruskin

Mind, Gentleman, Firsts

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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There is a certain period of the soul-culture when it begins to interfere with some of characters of typical beauty belonging to the bodily frame, the stirring of the intellect wearing down the flesh, and the moral enthusiasm burning its way out to heaven, through the emaciation of the earthen vessel; and there is, in this indication of subduing the mortal by the immortal part, an ideal glory of perhaps a purer and higher range than that of the more perfect material form. We conceive, I think, more nobly of the weak presence of Paul than of, the fair and ruddy countenance of David.

John Ruskin

Beauty, Character, Thinking

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Perfect taste is the faculty of receiving the greatest possible pleasure from those material sources which are attractive to oar moral nature in its purity and perfection.

John Ruskin

Perfect, Taste, Receiving

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Absolute ugliness is admitted as rarely as perfect beauty; but degrees of it more or less distinct are associated with whatever has the nature of death and sin, just as beauty is associated with what has the nature of virtue and of life.

John Ruskin

Perfect, Degrees, Sin

John Ruskin (1871). “Selections from the Writings of John Ruskin”, p.421

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He who has once stood beside the grave, to look back upon the companionship which has been forever closed, feeling how impotent there are the wild love, or the keen sorrow, to give one instant's pleasure to the pulseless heart, or atone in the lowest measure to the departed spirit for the hour of unkindness, will scarcely for the future incur that debt to the heart which can only be discharged to the dust.

John Ruskin

Heart, Dust, Giving

John Ruskin (1848). “Modern Painters”, p.6

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The wisest men are wise to the full in death.

John Ruskin

Wise, Men, Wisest Man

John Ruskin, John Atkinson Hobson (1899*). “John Ruskin's works”

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

John Ruskin

Important, Noble, Literature

John Ruskin, Frederick William Roe (2013). “Selections and Essays”, p.231, Courier Corporation

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

John Ruskin

Pride, Done, Rivalry

"The Ethics of the Dust: Ten Lectures to Little Housewives on the Elements of Crystallizaion".

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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.

John Ruskin

Beauty, Light, Shadow

John Ruskin (1888). “Modern Painters (Complete)”, p.743, Library of Alexandria

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Civilization is the making of civil persons.

John Ruskin

Civilization, Literature, Persons

John Ruskin (1867). “Time and Tide, by Weare and Tyne. Twenty-five letters to a working man of Sunderland on the laws of work”, p.197

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You might sooner get lightning out of incense smoke than true action or passion out of your modern English religion.

John Ruskin

Passion, Lightning, Incense

John Ruskin, John D. Rosenberg (1964). “The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings”, p.312, University of Virginia Press

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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

Funny, Hands, World Suffering

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No changing of place at a hundred miles an hour will make us one whit stronger, or happier, or wiser. There was always more in the world than man could see, walked they ever so slowly; they will see it no better for going fast. The really precious things are thought and sight, not pace. It does a bullet no good to go fast; and a man, if he be truly a man, no harm to go slow; for his glory is not at all in going, but in being.

John Ruskin

Men, Sight, Stronger

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How false is the conception, how frantic the pursuit, of that treacherous phantom which men call Liberty: most treacherous, indeed, of all phantoms; for the feeblest ray of reason might surely show us, that not only its attainment, but its being, was impossible..... There is no such thing in the universe. There can never be. The stars have it not; the earth has it not; the sea has it not; and we men have the mockery and semblance of it only for our heaviest punishment.

John Ruskin

Stars, Men, Sea

John Ruskin “The stones of Venice (cont'd) Seven lamps of architecture. Lectures on architecture and painting, delivered at Edinburgh in Nov. 1853. An inquiry into some of the conditions at present affecting the study of architecture in our schools”

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God alone can finish.

John Ruskin

John Ruskin (1871). “Selections from the Writings of John Ruskin”, p.245

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Absolute and entire ugliness is rare.

John Ruskin

Absolutes, Ugliness

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Architecture is the art which so disposes and adorns the edifices raised by man, that the sight of them may contribute to his mental health, power, and pleasure.

John Ruskin

Art, Men, Sight

John Ruskin (1849). “The Seven Lamps of Architecture”, p.7

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Another of the strange and evil tendencies of the present day is the decoration of the railroad station... There was never more flagrant nor impertinent folly than the smallest portion of ornament in anything connected with the railroads... Railroad architecture has or would have a dignity of its own if it were only left to its work.

John Ruskin

Evil, Ornaments, Railroads

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The relative majesty of buildings depends more on the weight and vigour of their masses than any other tribute of their design.

John Ruskin

Design, Weight, Majesty

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You cannot have good architecture merely by asking people's advice on occasion. All good architecture is the expression of national life and character; and it is produced by a prevalent and eager national taste, or desire for beauty.

John Ruskin

Character, Expression, People

John Ruskin, John D. Rosenberg (1964). “The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings”, p.274, University of Virginia Press

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Born: February 8, 1819
Died: January 20, 1900
Occupation: Art critic
Cite this Page: Citation

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