Skip to content
quotesby

Suppose any person to be put in possession of a large estate of fruitful land, with rich beds of gold in its gravel; countless herds of cattle in its pastures; houses, and gardens, and storehouses full of useful stores; but suppose, after all, that he could get no servants? In order that he may be able to have servants, some one in his neighbourhood must be poor, and in want of his gold - or his corn. Assume that no one is in want of either, and that no servants are to be had. He must, therefore, bake his own bread, make his own clothes, plough his own ground, and shepherd his own flocks. His gold will be as useful to him as any other yellow pebbles on his estate. His stores must rot, for he cannot consume them. He can eat no more than another man could eat, and wear no more than another man could wear. He must lead a life of severe and common labour to procure even ordinary comforts; he will be ultimately unable to keep either houses in repair, or fields in cultivation; and forced to content himself with a poor man's portion of cottage and garden, in the midst of a desert of waste land, trampled by wild cattle, and encumbered by ruins of palaces, which he will hardly mock at himself by calling 'his own.'

John Ruskin#52

WorkSocietyWealthEconomicsValue

About this quote

What does it mean?
If someone owns land with resources but has no one to help them work, they must labor themselves or their gold and food are useless.
In plain terms
Wealth means nothing if you cannot use it; you need others to help.
What can you take from it?
Wealth requires social cooperation to be useful.

Where it applies

  • economic theory
  • leadership
  • resource management

Putting it to work

  • build teams
  • value cooperation
  • manage resources

Questions to consider

  • Does wealth need others to be useful?
  • How do you build cooperation?

Another view

Some wealth can be stored or managed alone without direct help.

More from John Ruskin

  1. 'I choose my physician and my clergyman, thus indicating my sense of the quality of their work.' By all means, also, choose your bricklayer; that is the proper…

    Permalink to quote #51
  2. Inequalities of wealth, unjustly established, have assuredly injured the nation in which they exist during their establishment; and, unjustly directed, they in…

    Permalink to quote #53
  3. There are, indeed, two forms of discontent: one laborious, the other indolent and complaining. We respect the man of laborious desire, but let us not suppose t…

    Permalink to quote #50

Related quotes

  1. The whole concept of celebrity pisses me off. While I'm not a celebrity, it's such a weird concept that society has cooked up for us. Astronauts and teachers a…

    Joseph Gordon LevittJoseph Gordon Levitt quote #2
  2. Ne provincialibus quidem matrimoniis abstinuisse vel hoc disticho apparet iactato aeque a militibus per Gallicum triumphum: 'Urbani, servate uxores: moechum ca…

    SuetoniusSuetonius quote #3
  3. You don't have to go to college to be a success ... We need the people who run the offices, the people who do the hard physical work of our society.

    George H. W. BushGeorge H. W. Bush quote #4