John Ruskin

Ruskin was the most powerful and influential critic of the nineteenth century. He wrote about nature, art, architecture, politics, history, myth and much besides. This new selection draws on the whole range of his output, including representative material from all his major works. The introduction outlines the development of his life and thought and shows why he remains such a rewarding writer today.

Selected Writings

paradoxical view when paired with his own writing

shen

The foam is not cruel, neither does it crawl. The state of mind which attributes it these characters of a living creature is one in which the reason is unhinged by grief. All violent feelings have the same effect. They produce in us a falseness in all our impressions of external things, which I would generally characterize as the ‘pathetic fallacy.’

For the first plain fact about myth-making is one which has been most strangely lost sight of,—that you cannot make a myth unless you have something to make it of. You cannot tell a secret which you don't know. If the myth is about the sky, it must have been made by somebody who looked at the sky. If myth is about justice and fortitude, it must have been made by some one who knew it was to be just or patient.

Hence it follows that the utmost power of art can only be given in a material capable of receiving and retaining the influence of the subtlest touch of the human hand.

Selected Writings quotes

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