There is no action so slight or so mean but it may be done to a great purpose, and ennobled thereby. — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
Failure is less attributable to either insufficiency of means or impatience of labours than to a confused understanding of the thing actually… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
The first test of a truly great man is his humility. By humility I don't mean doubt of his powers or hesitation… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
Nobody cares much at heart about Titian, only there is a strange undercurrent of everlasting murmur about his name, which means the… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
I believe that the first test of a great man is his humility. I don't mean by humility, doubt of his power.… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
I do not mean to call an elephant a vulgar animal, but if you think about him carefully, you will find that… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
To follow art for the sake of being a great man, and therefore to cast about continually for some means of achieving… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
There is no wealth but life. Life, including all its powers of love, of joy, and of admiration. That country is the… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
Nature is always mysterious and secret in her use of means; and art is always likest her when it is most inexplicable. — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
The word "Blue" does not mean the sensation caused by a gentian on the human eye; but it means the power of… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
Education is the leading human souls to what is best, and making what is best out of them; and these two objects… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
You do not see with the lens of the eye. You seen through that, and by means of that, but you see… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
Other men used their effete faiths and mean faculties with a high moral purpose. The Venetian gave the most earnest faith, and… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
No girl who is well bred, 'kind, and modest, is ever offensively plain; all real deformity means want of manners, or of… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
Temperance, in the nobler sense, does not mean a subdued and imperfect energy; it does not mean a stopping short in any… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
Cookery means…English thoroughness, French art, and Arabian hospitality; it means the knowledge of all fruits and herbs and balms and spices; it… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
What does cookery mean? It means the knowledge of Medea and of Circe, and of Calypso, and Sheba. It means knowledge of… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
There is nothing so great or so goodly in creation, but that it is a mean symbol of the gospel of Christ,… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
“Occult Theft,--Theft which hides itself even from itself, and is legal, respectable, and cowardly,--corrupts the body and soul of man, to the last fibre… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
Mighty of heart, mighty of mind, magnanimous-to be this is indeed to be great in life. — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
Life is a magic vase filled to the brim, so made that you cannot dip from it nor draw from it; but it overflows… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
As in the instances of alchemy, astrology, witchcraft, and other such popular creeds, political economy, has a plausible idea at the root of it. — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
I am far more provoked at being thought foolish by foolish people, than pleased at being thought sensible by sensible people; and the average… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
When we build ... let it not be for present delights nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
It is far more difficult to be simple than to be complicated; far more difficult to sacrifice skill and easy execution in the proper… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
It is a good and safe rule to sojourn in every place as if you meant to spend your life there, never omitting an… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
“You may trust to the truth of my sympathy; but you must remember that I am engaged in the investigation of enormous religious and… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
And remember, child, that nothing is ever done beautifully, which is done in rivalship; or nobly, which is done in pride. — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
The world is full of vulgar Purists, who bring discredit on all selection by the silliness of their choice; and this the more, because… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
