“Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless: peacocks and lilies, for instance.”

— John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice (1853)

About John Ruskin

1819 – 1900

English art critic and social thinker.

“Life without industry is guilt, and industry without art is brutality.”

“God has lent us the earth for our life; it is a great entail.”

“Labour without joy is base. Labour without sorrow is base. Sorrow without labour is base. Joy without labour is base.”

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”

“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life.”

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”