You might sooner get lightning out of incense smoke than true action or passion out of your modern English religion. — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
I would have, then, our ordinary dwelling-houses built to last, and built to be lovely; as rich and full of pleasantness as… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
You cannot hammer a girl into anything. She grows as a flower does, she will wither without sun; she will decay in… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
There was a rocky valley between Buxton and Bakewell?divine as the vale of Tempe; you might have seen the gods there morning… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
The man who accepts the laissez-faire doctrine would allow his garden to grow wild so that roses might fight it out with… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
I had no companions to quarrel with, nobody to assist, and nobody to thank... the evil consequence of all this was not,… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
You must get into the habit of looking intensely at words, and assuring yourself of their meaning, syllable by syllable-nay, letter by… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
How false is the conception, how frantic the pursuit, of that treacherous phantom which men call Liberty: most treacherous, indeed, of all… — John Ruskin Copy Share Image
As unity demanded for its expression what at first might have seemed its opposite--variety; so repose demands for its expression the implied… — 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
