John Ruskin Quotes

Only that which serves no end is beautiful; everything useful is ugly.

I like to be surrounded by splendid things.

Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies for instance.

Snow is so beautiful, it doesn't have to be useful.

I'm fascinated by diamonds. When I put diamonds on, my hands start to shake.

The neck on which diamonds might have worthily sparkled, will look less tempting when the biting winter has hung icicles there for gems.

I've never had a diamond before, and now I've got a diamond surrounded by other diamonds and diamonds in places where, frankly, you don't need diamonds at all, and I would have been happy with a piece of twine.

Beauty is everywhere a welcome guest.

I adore wearing gems, but not because they are mine. You can't possess radiance, you can only admire it.

Anything in any way beautiful derives its beauty from itself and asks nothing beyond itself. Praise is no part of it, for nothing is made worse or better by praise.

I just love pretty things, whether it is art, a song or a pair of shoes.

I love accessorizing with jewelry.

I love women's bodies. I love luxury.

I'm interested in beauty more than anything else.

A circle may be small, yet it may be as mathematically beautiful and perfect as a large one.

I am very much interested in the so-called useless object. I mean, it takes perfect craftsmanship, beautiful material carefully measured and crafted, but at the same time it’s really useless.

Does not beauty confer a benefit upon us, even by the simple fact of being beautiful?

Our appreciations, it was felt, could be so much more inclusive if we said that something, instead of being beautiful, was 'interesting'.

Silk does for the body what diamonds do for the hand.

Unless you can surround yourself with as many beautiful things as you can afford, I don't think life has very much meaning.

Artemis looked at Holly and felt a tremendous affection for her... he could properly appreciate how fierce and beautiful his best friend was... She is truly magical, thought Artemis. Perhaps her qualities are more obvious to me now that I have decided to sacrifice myself.

Praise adds nothing to beauty--makes it neither better nor worse.

This curious world we inhabit is more wonderful than convenient; more beautiful than it is useful; it is more to be admired and enjoyed than used.

There is nothing truly beautiful but that which can never be of any use whatsoever; everything useful is ugly, for it is the expression of some need, and man's needs are ignoble and disgusting like his own poor and infirm nature. The most useful place in a house is the water-closet.

Anything that is beautiful is beautiful just as it is. Praise forms no part of its beauty, since praise makes things neither better nor worse. This applies even more to what it commonly called beautiful: natural objects, for example, or works of art. True beauty has no need of anything beyond itself.