John Ruskin

Bekannte Zitate von John Ruskin

In general, pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes.

Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts - the book of their deeds, the book of their words and the book of their art.

A great thing can only be done by a great person and they do it without effort.

It is impossible, as impossible as to raise the dead, to restore anything that has ever been great or beautiful in architecture. That which I have insisted upon as the life of the whole, that spirit which is given only by the hand and eye of the workman, can never be recalled.

Man's only true happiness is to live in hope of something to be won by him. Reverence something to be worshipped by him, and love something to be cherished by him, forever.

No lying knight or lying priest ever prospered in any age, but especially not in the dark ones. Men prospered then only in following an openly declared purpose, and preaching candidly beloved and trusted creeds.

The art which we may call generally art of the wayside, as opposed to that which is the business of men's lives, is, in the best sense of the word, Grotesque.

The first duty of government is to see that people have food, fuel, and clothes. The second, that they have means of moral and intellectual education.

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.

How long most people would look at the best book before they would give the price of a large turbot for it?

Men don't and can't live by exchanging articles, but by producing them. They don't live by trade, but by work. Give up that foolish and vain title of Trades Unions and take that of laborers Unions.

A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money.

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

Do not think of your faults, still less of other's faults look for what is good and strong, and try to imitate it. Your faults will drop off, like dead leaves, when their time comes.

The child who desires education will be bettered by it the child who dislikes it disgraced.

There is no wealth but life.

All great and beautiful work has come of first gazing without shrinking into the darkness.

No art can be noble which is incapable of expressing thought, and no art is capable of expressing thought which does not change.

All that we call ideal in Greek or any other art, because to us it is false and visionary, was, to the makers of it, true and existent.

Education is the leading of human souls to what is best, and making what is best out of them.

I believe the first test of a truly great man is in his humility.

He that would be angry and sin not, must not be angry with anything but sin.

No person who is not a great sculptor or painter can be an architect. If he is not a sculptor or painter, he can only be a builder.

All great art is the work of the whole living creature, body and soul, and chiefly of the soul.

No architecture is so haughty as that which is simple.

It is in this power of saying everything, and yet saying nothing too plainly, that the perfection of art consists.

Give a little love to a child, and you get a great deal back.

The first condition of education is being able to put someone to wholesome and meaningful work.

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.

Nearly all the powerful people of this age are unbelievers, the best of them in doubt and misery, the most in plodding hesitation, doing as well as they can, what practical work lies at hand.

Modern education has devoted itself to the teaching of impudence, and then we complain that we can no longer control our mobs.

No human being, however great, or powerful, was ever so free as a fish.

Every great person is always being helped by everybody for their gift is to get good out of all things and all persons.

To make your children capable of honesty is the beginning of education.

Doing is the great thing, for if people resolutely do what is right, they come in time to like doing it.

Art is not a study of positive reality, it is the seeking for ideal truth.

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.

The principle of all successful effort is to try to do not what is absolutely the best, but what is easily within our power, and suited for our temperament and condition.

The strength and power of a country depends absolutely on the quantity of good men and women in it.

Fine art is that in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go together.