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Men have commonly more pleasure in the criticism which hurts than in that which is innocuous, and are more tolerant of the severity which breaks hearts and ruins fortunes than of that which falls impotently on the grave.

John Ruskin

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John Ruskin
Age: 80 †
Born: 1819
Born: February 8
Died: 1900
Died: January 20
Aesthetician
Architect
Art Critic
Art Historian
Journalist
Literary Critic
Painter
Philosopher
Poet
Sociologist
University Teacher
Writer
London
England
Kata Phusin
Rŏsŭkʻin
J. Ruskin
John Rosukin
Jon Rasukin
Dzhon Rëskin
Ruskin
Hearts
Hurts
Hurt
Breaks
Break
Grave
Pleasure
Falls
Innocuous
Fall
Ruins
Severity
Heart
Graves
Fortunes
Men
Fortune
Tolerant
Criticism
Commonly

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Levi's station in life was the receipt of custom and Peter's, the shore of Galilee and Paul's, the antechambers of the High- Priest, which station in life each had to leave, with brief notice.
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The enormous influence of novelty--the way in which it quickens observations, sharpens sensations, and exalts sentiment--is not half enough taken note of by us, and is to me a very sorrowful matter. And yet, if we try to obtain perpetual change, change itself will become monotonous.
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So long as we see the stones and joints, and are not deceived as to the points of support in any piece of architecture, we may rather praise than regret the dexterous artifices which compel us to feel as if there were fibre in its shafts and life in its branches.
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To yield reverence to another, to hold ourselves and our lives at his disposal, is not slavery often, it is the noblest state in which a man can live in this world.
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Work first and then rest. Work first, and then gaze, but do not use golden ploughshares, nor bind ledgers in enamel.
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It seems a fantastic paradox, but it is nevertheless a most important truth, that no architecture can be truly noble which is not imperfect.
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The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something and tell what it saw in a plain way. Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thousands can think for one who can see. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion, all in one.
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Better a child should be ignorant of a thousand truths than have consecrated in its heart a single lie.
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No one can become rich by the efforts of only their toil, but only by the discovery of some method of taxing the labor of others.
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A thing is worth what it can do for you, not what you choose to pay for it.
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The very cheapness of literature is making even wise people forget that if a book is worth reading, it is worth buying. No book is worth anything which is not worth much nor is it serviceable, until it has been read, and re-read, and loved, and loved again and marked, so that you can refer to the passages you want in it.
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All true opinions are living, and show their life by being capable of nourishment therefore of change. But their change is that of a tree not of a cloud.
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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.
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Conceit may puff a man up, but never prop him up.
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The distinguishing sign of slavery is to have a price, and to be bought for it.
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Every duty we omit obscures some truth we should have known.
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If some people really see angels where others see only empty space, let them paint the angels: only let not anybody else think they can paint an angel too, on any calculated principles of the angelic.
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Once thoroughly our own, the knowledge ceases to give us pleasure.
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It is strange that of all the pieces of the Bible which my mother taught me, that which cost me the most to learn, and which was to my childish mind the most repulsive - Psalm 119 - has now become of all the most precious to me in its overflowing and glorious passion of love for the Law of God.
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Milton saw not, and Beethoven heard not, but the sense of beauty was upon them, and they fain must speak.
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