John Ruskin Quotes

The idea that you have to rent yourself to somebody and follow their orders, and that they own and you work there, and you built it but you don't own it, that's a highly unnatural notion. You don't have to study any complicated theories to see that this is an attack on human dignity.

A man who is without capital, and who, by prohibitions upon banking, is practically forbidden to hire any, is in a condition elevated but one degree above that of a chattel slave. He may live; but he can live only as the servant of others; compelled to perform such labor, and to perform it at such prices, as they may see fit to dictate.

Juridically they are equal; but economically the worker is the serf of the capitalist … The worker always has the right to leave his employer, but has he the means to do so? No, he does it in order to sell himself to another employer. He is driven to it by the same hunger which forces him to sell himself to the first employer.

The labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce.

Man exists for his own sake, and not to add a laborer to the State.

In the society of to-day the means of production are a monopoly of the capitalistic class; the dependence of the working classes which results from this is the cause of misery and of servitude in all its forms.

What you perceive as "liberal" is my independence to choose what i do, with whom, and when. Moreover, it also means that i may choose not to do it, with anyone, ever.

A [typical] worker is a part-time slave.

So the life I have made May seem wrong to you But, I've never been surer It's my life to ruin My own way.

A serf-supporting and self-respecting democracy can plead no justification for the existence of child labor, no economic reason for chiseling workers' wages or stretching workers' hours.

We are human beings, not ants.

It is beneath human dignity to lose one's individuality and become a mere cog in the machine.

How can any man be free without a soul of his own, that he believes in and won't sell at any price?

Man is a unique individual. He can never be put in a system where he becomes just another notch. Another nail.

Without privacy there was no point in being an individual.

A well-paid slave is nonetheless a slave.

When domestic servants are treated as human beings it is not worth while to keep them.

When a man cannot chose, he ceases to be a man.

Aristotle dines when it seems good to King Philip, but Diogenes when he himself pleases.

Anyone who wants to be truly free must be willing to stand alone in the truth.

I may appear to be an eccentric old man... But this is a free choice.

The individual has totally different interests from the society, because the society has no soul. The society is soulless. And if you become too much a part of the society, it will reduce your soul also to a non-entity. Beware, before you have lost your whole opportunity. Don't be a slave. Follow society to the point you feel is needed, but always remain master of your own destiny.

I am my own person. What I'm doing, I'm happy with it. I'm doing what I want to.

One's own free unfettered choice, one's own caprice-however wild it may be, one's own fancy worked up at times to frenzy-is that very "most advantageous advantage" which we have overlooked, which comes under no classification and against which all systems and theories are continually being shattered to atoms... [an]will attain his object-that is, convince himself he is a man and not a piano-key!

What do you suppose will satisfy the soul, except to walk free and own no superior?