John Ruskin
English art critic and social thinker (1819 to 1900); author of Unto This Last.
John Ruskin did not write this page. ppll compiled it from their own words, each linked to the source. Is this you? · Report a mistake
What they believe
-
Honesty is a commanding force that keeps the economy in order, not a disturbance to it
Honesty is not a disturbing force, which deranges the orbits of economy; but a consistent and commanding force, by obedience to which—and by no other obedience—those orbits can continue clear of chaos.
gutenberg.orgSaid c. 1860–1862This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These one: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 21 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
Honesty is a commanding force that keeps the economy in order, not a disturbance to it
Honesty is not a disturbing force, which deranges the orbits of economy; but a consistent and commanding force, by obedience to which—and by no other obedience—those orbits can continue clear of chaos.
Unto This Last (1860-1862) Said c. 1860–1862
Organizing labour is easy with honest leaders of industry and impossible without them
The subject of the organization of labour is only casually touched upon; because, if we once can get a sufficient quantity of honesty in our captains, the organization of labour is easy, and will develop itself without quarrel or difficulty; but if we cannot get honesty in our captains, the organization of labour is for evermore impossible.
Unto This Last (1860-1862) Said c. 1860–1862
Political economy that ignores social affection is perhaps the most curious and least creditable delusion
Among the delusions which at different periods have possessed themselves of the minds of large masses of the human race, perhaps the most curious—certainly the least creditable—is the modern soi-disant science of political economy, based on the idea that an advantageous code of social action may be determined irrespectively of the influence of social affection.
Unto This Last (1860-1862) Said c. 1860–1862
Show 18 more
The interests of employer and worker may be alike or opposed, depending on circumstances
It can never be shown generally either that the interests of master and labourer are alike, or that they are opposed; for, according to circumstances, they may be either.
Unto This Last (1860-1862) Said c. 1860–1862
Human actions are meant to be guided by justice, not by calculations of expediency
For no human actions ever were intended by the Maker of men to be guided by balances of expediency, but by balances of justice.
Unto This Last (1860-1862) Said c. 1860–1862
Workers do the most work when moved by affection, not by pay or pressure
The largest quantity of work will not be done by this curious engine for pay, or under pressure, or by help of any kind of fuel which may be supplied by the chaldron. It will be done only when the motive force, that is to say, the will or spirit of the creature, is brought to its greatest strength by its own proper fuel; namely, by the affections.
Unto This Last (1860-1862) Said c. 1860–1862
Labour should be paid at a fixed rate, with good workers hired and bad ones left unemployed
The natural and right system respecting all labour is, that it should be paid at a fixed rate, but the good workman employed, and the bad workmen unemployed. The false, unnatural, and destructive system is, when the bad workman is allowed to offer his work at half-price, and either take the place of the good, or force him by his competition to work for an inadequate sum.
Unto This Last (1860-1862) Said c. 1860–1862
A soldier's essential trade is not slaying but being slain
For the soldier's trade, verily and essentially, is not slaying, but being slain.
Unto This Last (1860-1862) Said c. 1860–1862
A merchant's function is to provide for the nation, not to make a profit for himself
Observe, the merchant's function (or manufacturer's, for in the broad sense in which it is here used the word must be understood to include both) is to provide for the nation. It is no more his function to get profit for himself out of that provision than it is a clergyman's function to get his stipend.
Unto This Last (1860-1862) Said c. 1860–1862
Riches are relative and have power only through other people's lack
Whereas riches are a power like that of electricity, acting only through inequalities or negations of itself. The force of the guinea you have in your pocket depends wholly on the default of a guinea in your neighbour's pocket.
Unto This Last (1860-1862) Said c. 1860–1862
Unequal wealth harms a nation when unjustly gained and helps it when justly gained and nobly used
Inequalities of wealth, unjustly established, have assuredly injured the nation in which they exist during their establishment; and, unjustly directed, injure it yet more during their existence. But inequalities of wealth justly established, benefit the nation in the course of their establishment; and, nobly used, aid it yet more by their existence.
Unto This Last (1860-1862) Said c. 1860–1862
Buying in the cheapest market and selling in the dearest can never be a principle of national economy
So far as I know, there is not in history record of anything so disgraceful to the human intellect as the modern idea that the commercial text, "Buy in the cheapest market and sell in the dearest," represents, or under any circumstances could represent, an available principle of national economy.
Unto This Last (1860-1862) Said c. 1860–1862
The true end of wealth may be producing as many healthy, happy people as possible
In fact, it may be discovered that the true veins of wealth are purple—and not in Rock, but in Flesh—perhaps even that the final outcome and consummation of all wealth is in the producing as many as possible full-breathed, bright-eyed, and happy-hearted human creatures.
Unto This Last (1860-1862) Said c. 1860–1862
Just wages should buy back at least as much labour as the worker gave
The abstract idea, then, of just or due wages, as respects the labourer, is that they will consist in a sum of money which will at any time procure for him at least as much labour as he has given, rather more than less.
Unto This Last (1860-1862) Said c. 1860–1862
The rich have no right to the property of the poor
And with respect to the mode in which these general principles affect the secure possession of property, so far am I from invalidating such security, that the whole gist of these papers will be found ultimately to aim at an extension in its range; and 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 (1860-1862) Said c. 1860–1862
Some people are permanently superior and should guide, and at times compel, their inferiors
My continual aim has been to show the eternal superiority of some men to others, sometimes even of one man to all others; and to show also the advisability of appointing such persons or person to guide, to lead, or on occasion even to compel and subdue, their inferiors, according to their own better knowledge and wiser will.
Unto This Last (1860-1862) Said c. 1860–1862
The value of a thing does not depend on opinion or on quantity
The value of a thing, therefore, is independent of opinion, and of quantity. Think what you will of it, gain how much you may of it, the value of the thing itself is neither greater nor less.
Unto This Last (1860-1862) Said c. 1860–1862
Where only supply and demand rule, those who get rich are generally covetous, unimaginative and insensitive
I may, however, anticipate future conclusions so far as to state that in a community regulated only by laws of demand and supply, but protected from open violence, the persons who become rich are, generally speaking, industrious, resolute, proud, covetous, prompt, methodical, sensible, unimaginative, insensitive, and ignorant.
Unto This Last (1860-1862) Said c. 1860–1862
A nation should ask how much life it produces, not how much labour it employs
Production does not consist in things laboriously made, but in things serviceably consumable; and the question for the nation is not how much labour it employs, but how much life it produces. For as consumption is the end and aim of production, so life is the end and aim of consumption.
Unto This Last (1860-1862) Said c. 1860–1862
There is no wealth but life, and the richest country nourishes the most noble and happy people
There is no Wealth but Life. Life, including all its powers of love, of joy, and of admiration. That country is the richest which nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human beings; that man is richest who, having perfected the functions of his own life to the utmost, has also the widest helpful influence, both personal and by means of his possessions, over the lives of others.
Unto This Last (1860-1862) Said c. 1860–1862
For now luxury can be enjoyed only by those ignorant of the suffering behind it
Luxury is indeed possible in the future—innocent and exquisite: luxury for all, and by the help of all; but luxury at present can only be enjoyed by the ignorant; the cruelest man living could not sit at his feast, unless he sat blindfold.
Unto This Last (1860-1862) Said c. 1860–1862
What is a korrent?
A korrent is a belief a person has stated in their own words: one sentence stating the claim, backed by a quote and a source, kept at korrents.com.
Under a name here, the quoted block is what they actually said. The korrent beneath it is the claim those words support, in korrents' wording — tap it to see the record, its source, and who else holds it.
Nobody here wrote their own korrents. They are compiled from public statements, and a person can change their mind, which is recorded too.
About the English under a post
Some people here publish in a language other than English. Where they do, this site shows a machine translation beneath the post, in this typeface — the site's own, not theirs.
The post itself is never changed, moved or hidden: what is set in the serif above is exactly what the person published, and it is what to quote them on. A translation can be wrong in ways that matter, especially about tone.
Only the post's own words are translated. A quoted post, a linked article and a belief on korrents.com are left in their original language.