770 Quotes by John Ruskin

The only absolutely and unapproachably heroic element in the soldier’s work seems to be-that he is paid little for it-and regularly.

The proof of a thing’s being right is that it has power over the heart; that it excites us, wins us, or helps us.

There is in every animal’s eye a dim image and gleam of humanity, a flash of strange light through which their life looks out and up to our great mystery of command over them, and claims the fellowship of the creature if not of the soul.

The more I think of it, the more I find this conclusion impressed upon me, that the greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something and tell what it saw in a plain way.

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.

Whether we force the man’s property from him by pinching his stomach, or pinching his fingers, makes some difference anatomically; morally, none whatsoever.

To speak and act truth with constancy and precision is nearly as difficult, and perhaps as meretorious, as to speak it under intimidation or penalty.

Wherever men are noble, they love bright colour; and wherever they can live healthily, bright colour is given them – in sky, sea, flowers, and living creatures.

The secret of language is the secret of sympathy, and its full charm is possible only to the gentle.