Quote #60

We shall be remembered in history as the most cruel, and therefore the most unwise, generation of men that ever yet troubled the earth: - the most cruel in proportion to their sensibility, - the most unwise in proportion to their science. No people, understanding pain, ever inflicted so much: no people, understanding facts, ever acted on them so little.

More from John Ruskin

  1. In all base schools of art, the craftsman is dependent for his bread on originality; that is to say, on finding in himself some fragment of…
  2. What do you suppose makes all men look back to the time of childhood with so much regret (if their childhood has been, in any moderate degr…
  3. The entire vitality of art depends upon its being either full of truth, or full of use; and that, however pleasant, wonderful, or impressiv…
  4. Ignorance, which is contented and clumsy, will produce what is imperfect, but not offensive. But ignorance discontented and dexterous, lear…
  5. The secret of language is the secret of sympathy and its full charm is possible only to the gentle.
  6. You think it a great triumph to make the sun draw brown landscapes for you! That was also a discovery, and some day may be useful. But the …
  7. Life without industry is guilt, and industry without art is brutality.
  8. An unimaginative person can neither be reverent nor kind.

All John Ruskin quotes