When a man is wrapped up in himself, he makes a pretty small package.
¶ (Attributed)
Quotations by ...
John Ruskin (1819-1900) English art critic and writer
There is hardly anything in the world that some man can't make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey.
¶ (Attributed)
Unsourced in any of Ruskin's works.
The greatest efforts of the race have always been traceable to the love of praise, as its greatest catastrophes to the love of pleasure.
¶ Sesame and Lilies, lecture I: "Of Kings' Treasures," sec. 3 (1864-1865)
Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts, the book of their deeds, the book of their words and the book of their art. Not one of these books can be understood unless we read the two others, but of the three the only trustworthy one is the last.
¶ St. Mark’s Rest: The History of Venice, Preface (1885)
Do not think of your faults, still less of others' 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.
¶ The Ethics of the Dust, Lecture 5 (1875)
Full text.
God has lent us the earth for our life; it is a great entail. It belongs as much to those who are to come after us, and whose names are already written in the book of creation, as to us; and we have no right, by anything that we do or neglect, to involve them in unnecessary penalties, or deprive them of benefits which it was in our power to bequeath.
¶ The Seven Lamps of Architecture, "The Lamp of Memory," ch. 6, sec. 9 (1907)
Whereas it has long been known and declared that the poor have no right to the property of the rich, I wish it also to be known and declared that the rich have no right to the property of the poor.
¶ Unto This Last Essay III: "Qui Judicatis Terram," sec. 54 (1860)
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WIST is my collection of quotations I find meaningful, moving, amusing (intended or not), well-phrased, and/or to which I just say I "Wish I'd Said That." But just because I quote it here doesn't mean I actually agree with it. If you have any comments, corrections, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to
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