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.
— John Ruskin
Nothing is ever done beautifully which is done in rivalship: or nobly, which is done in pride.
Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts - the book of their deeds, the book of their words and the book of their art.
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.
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.
Large fortunes are all founded either on the occupation of land, or lending or the taxation of labor.
One who does not know when to die, does not know how to live.
How long most people would look at the best book before they would give the price of a large turbot for it?
No art can be noble which is incapable of expressing thought, and no art is capable of expressing thought which does not change.
The child who desires education will be bettered by it; the child who dislikes it disgraced.
Doing is the great thing, for if people resolutely do what is right, they come in time to like doing it.
Not only is there but one way of doing things rightly, but there is only one way of seeing them, and that is, seeing the whole of them.
The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.
To make your children capable of honesty is the beginning of education.
In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: They must be fit for it. They must not do too much of it. And they must have a sense of success in it.
Natural abilities can almost compensate for the want of every kind of cultivation, but no cultivation of the mind can make up for the want of natural abilities.
Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you.
It is far more difficult to be simple than to be complicated; far more difficult to sacrifice skill and easy execution in the proper place, than to expand both indiscriminately.
It is his restraint that is honorable to a person, not their liberty.
Music when healthy, is the teacher of perfect order, and when depraved, the teacher of perfect disorder.
The sky is the part of creation in which nature has done for the sake of pleasing man.
No good is ever done to society by the pictorial representation of its diseases.
Men cannot not live by exchanging articles, but producing them. They live by work not trade.
Cursing is invoking the assistance of a spirit to help you inflict suffering. Swearing on the other hand, is invoking, only the witness of a spirit to an statement you wish to make.
Books are divided into two classes, the books of the hour and the books of all time.
When we build, let us think that we build for ever.
Modern education has devoted itself to the teaching of impudence, and then we complain that we can no longer control our mobs.
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 purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love colour the most.
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.
A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money.
Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies for instance.
Art is not a study of positive reality, it is the seeking for ideal truth.
Modern travelling is not travelling at all; it is merely being sent to a place, and very little different from becoming a parcel.
The work of science is to substitute facts for appearances, and demonstrations for impressions.
The strength and power of a country depends absolutely on the quantity of good men and women in it.
It is not how much one makes but to what purpose one spends.
Imaginary evils soon become real one by indulging our reflections on them.
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.
Tell me what you like and I'll tell you what you are.
Civilization is the making of civil persons.
A book worth reading is worth buying.
The first condition of education is being able to put someone to wholesome and meaningful work.
A thing is worth what it can do for you, not what you choose to pay for it.
When a man is wrapped up in himself, he makes a pretty small package.
All books are divisible into two classes, the books of the hour, and the books of all time.
Every great person is always being helped by everybody; for their gift is to get good out of all things and all persons.
To give alms is nothing unless you give thought also.
When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.
The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world... to see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion all in one.
