By Maxime Lagacé
Maxime is the founder of WisdomQuotes. He has been collecting quotes since 2004. His goal? To help you develop a calm and peaceful mind. Learn more about him on his about page.
Top 10 Quotes – Art – Work – Life – More Quotes – Takeaways – Further Readings
Here are 85 of the best John Ruskin quotes.
And if you don’t know who he was, here’s the gist:
- He was an English polymath, writer, lecturer, art historian and critic, and philanthropist
- He was born in London in 1819 and died in 1900 at the age of 80
- He even influenced Gandhi with his book Unto This Last
But what will you learn exactly?
- The value of beauty in daily life
- The importance of work for growth and purpose
- The importance of nature and slowing down
- And a lot more
John Ruskin will also teach you the value of simplicity.
Not only by the life he lived.
But by the words he chose.
I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I do.
Top 10 John Ruskin Quotes
The best things in life aren’t things. John Ruskin
What we think, or what we know, or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do. John Ruskin
Endurance is nobler than strength, and patience than beauty. John Ruskin
Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. John Ruskin
The first test of a truly great man is his humility. By humility I don’t mean doubt of his powers or hesitation in speaking his opinion, but merely an understanding of the relationship of what he can say and what he can do. John Ruskin
The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it. John Ruskin
Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness. John Ruskin
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
Education is the leading of human souls to what is best, and making what is best out of them. John Ruskin
The will of God for us is to live in happiness and to take an interest in the lives of others. John Ruskin
John Ruskin Quotes About Art, Architecture
When we build, let us think that we build forever. John Ruskin
The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love colour the most. John Ruskin
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
Blue color is everlastingly appointed by the deity to be a source of delight. John Ruskin
Life without industry is guilt. Industry without art is brutality. John Ruskin
We require from buildings two kinds of goodness: first, the doing their practical duty well: then that they be graceful and pleasing in doing it. John Ruskin
Drawing is a means of obtaining and communicating knowledge. John Ruskin
The measure of any great civilization is its cities and a measure of a city’s greatness is to be found in the quality of its public spaces, its parks and squares. John Ruskin
All art is but dirtying the paper delicately. John Ruskin
Architecture is the work of nations. John Ruskin
The entire vitality of art depends upon its being either full of truth, or full of use. John Ruskin
Art is not a study of positive reality, it is the seeking for ideal truth. John Ruskin
Fine art is that in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go together. John Ruskin
Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty. John Ruskin
Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies for instance. John Ruskin
I would rather teach drawing that my pupils may learn to love nature, than teach the looking at nature that they may learn to draw. John Ruskin
In old times, men used their powers of painting to show the objects of faith; in later times, they used the objects of faith that they might show their powers of painting. John Ruskin
It is excellent discipline for an author to feel that he must say all he has to say in the fewest possible words, or his reader is sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words, or his reader will certainly misunderstand them. John Ruskin
He is the greatest artist who has embodied, in the sum of his works, the greatest number of the greatest ideas. John Ruskin
To banish imperfection is to destroy expression, to check exertion, to paralyze vitality. John Ruskin
John Ruskin Quotes About Work
Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of intelligent effort. There must be the will to produce a superior thing. John Ruskin
All great and beautiful work has come of first gazing without shrinking into the darkness. John Ruskin
When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece. John Ruskin
When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for our use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will look upon with praise and thanksgiving in their hearts. John Ruskin
Work first, and then rest. John Ruskin
Skill is the unified force of experience, intellect and passion in their operation. John Ruskin
Labour without joy is base. Labour without sorrow is base. Sorrow without labour is base. Joy without labour is base. John Ruskin
God gives us always strength enough, and sense enough, for everything He wants us to do. John Ruskin
Genius is only a superior power of seeing. John Ruskin
In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: They must be fit for it. They must not do too much of it. And they must have a sense of success in it. John Ruskin
The first condition of education is being able to put someone to wholesome and meaningful work. John Ruskin
All you have really to do is to keep your back as straight as you can; and not think about what is upon it. The real and essential meaning of “virtue is that straightness of back. John Ruskin
The spirit needs several sorts of food of which knowledge is only one. John Ruskin
We were not sent into this world to do anything into which we cannot put our hearts. John Ruskin
The greatest minds are marked by nothing more distinctly than an inconceivable humility, and acceptance of work or instruction in any form, and from any quarter. They will learn from everybody, and do anything that anybody asks, so long as it involves only toil, or what other men would think degradation. John Ruskin
I have always found that the less we speak of our intentions, the more chance there is of our realizing them. John Ruskin
Related
- 100 Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes (On Life, Happiness, Self-Reliance)
- 60 Henry David Thoreau Quotes (On Life, Solitude, Nature)
- 100 Leo Tolstoy Quotes (On Love, Life, Happiness)
John Ruskin Quotes About Life
Living without an aim, is like sailing without a compass. John Ruskin
Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. John Ruskin
It is better to lose your pride with someone you love rather than to lose that someone you love with your useless pride. John Ruskin
A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money. John Ruskin
A book worth reading is worth buying. John Ruskin
There is no wealth but life. John Ruskin
In general, pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes. John Ruskin
Mountains are the beginning and the end of all natural scenery. John Ruskin
It is far more difficult to be simple than to be complicated. John Ruskin
When God shuts a door, He opens a window. John Ruskin
You should read books like you take medicine, by advice, and not by advertisement. John Ruskin
Every noble life leaves its fibre interwoven forever in the work of the world. John Ruskin
There are many religions, but there is only one morality. John Ruskin
Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you. John Ruskin
All of one’s life is music, if one touches the notes rightly, and in time. John Ruskin
I know well that happiness is in little things. John Ruskin
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
Government and cooperation are in all things the laws of life. Anarchy and competition, the laws of death. John Ruskin
Let every dawn be to you as the beginning of life, and every setting sun be to you as its close. John Ruskin
Give a little love to a child, and you get a great deal back. John Ruskin
Imperfection is in some sort essential to all that we know of life. It is the sign of life in a mortal body, that is to say, of a state of progress and change. Nothing that lives is, or can be rigidly perfect; part of it is decaying, part nascent. John Ruskin
I will not kill or hurt any living creature needlessly, nor destroy any beautiful thing, but will strive to save and comfort all gentle life, and guard and perfect all natural beauty upon the earth. John Ruskin
More John Ruskin Quotes
Mighty of heart, mighty of mind, magnanimous – to be this is indeed to be great in life. John Ruskin
No individual rain drop ever considers itself responsible for the flood. John Ruskin
What we think or what we know or what we believe is in the end of little consequence. The only thing of consequence is what we do. John Ruskin
Kind hearts are the garden, kind thoughts are the roots, kind words are the blossoms, kind deeds are the fruit. John Ruskin
It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. John Ruskin
One can’t be angry when one looks at a penguin. John Ruskin
Death is not a journey into an unknown land; it is a voyage home. We are going, not to a strange country, but to our fathers house. John Ruskin
To make your children capable of honesty is the beginning of education. John Ruskin
Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think. John Ruskin
To be able to ask a question clearly is two-thirds of the way to getting it answered. John Ruskin
Curiosity is a gift, a capacity of pleasure in knowing, which if you destroy, you make yourself cold and dull. John Ruskin
When you pay too much, you lose a little money – that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought is incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. John Ruskin
The question is not what man can scorn, or disparage, or find fault with, but what he can love, and value, and appreciate. John Ruskin
Conclusion
Not without design does God write the music of our lives. John Ruskin
Misattributed To John Ruskin
There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man’s lawful prey. More info
When a man is wrapped up in himself, he makes a pretty small package. More info
Key Takeaways From John Ruskin’s Quotes
Here are 5 simple things you can learn from John Ruskin:
- Beauty. “The best things in life aren’t things.” Meaning: Materialism will never satisfy you. Focus on truth, virtue, and beauty instead.
- Growth. “The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.” Meaning: It’s always nice to “win”. But keep in mind: the goal is to become a better version of yourself.
- Quality. “When we build, let us think that we build forever.” Meaning: Put your whole heart into what you’re creating. It’s the only way to be proud and build something beautiful.
- Simplicity. “There is no wealth but life.” Meaning: Life itself is the ultimate gift. Being alive is the gift. Don’t seek further.
- Happiness. “I know well that happiness is in little things.” Meaning: Uncomplicate yourself. Find value in relationships, a walk, a garden, a bird singing, a person smiling at you, sunlight, etc.
Further Readings
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