John Ruskin Quotes About Architecture

Quotes about: Architecture

• When we build ... let it not be for present delights nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for, and let us think ... that a time is to come when these stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say as they look upon the labor, and the wrought substance of them, See! This our fathers did for us!

  John Ruskin

  Father, Future, Men

  John Ruskin (2013). “Selections and Essays”, p.188, Courier Corporation

• We require from buildings two kinds of goodness: first, the doing their practical duty well: then that they be graceful and pleasing in doing it.

  John Ruskin

  Two, Design, Firsts

  John Ruskin (2015). “The Stones of Venice”, p.77, John Ruskin

• When we build, let us think that we build forever.

  John Ruskin

  Badass, Bad Ass, Thinking

  Seven Lamps of Architecture "The Lamp of Memory" sec. 10 (1849)

• Architecture is the work of nations

  John Ruskin

  Architecture, Nations

  John Ruskin (2013). “The Stones of Venice - Volume I: The Foundations”, p.235, Cosimo, Inc.

• No person who is not a great sculptor or painter can be an architect. If he is not a sculptor or painter, he can only be a builder.

  John Ruskin

  Art, Architecture, Painter

  'Lectures on Architecture and Painting' (1853) 61, addenda

• It is impossible, as impossible as to raise the dead, to restore anything that has ever been great or beautiful in architecture. That which I have insisted upon as the life of the whole, that spirit which is given only by the hand and eye of the workman, can never be recalled.

  John Ruskin

  Beautiful, Eye, Hands

  John Ruskin (2015). “The Seven Lamps of Architecture”, p.228, John Ruskin

• No architecture is so haughty as that which is simple.

  John Ruskin

  Simple, Architecture, Haughty

  John Ruskin, John D. Rosenberg (1964). “The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings”, p.195, University of Virginia Press

• We may live without her, and worship without her, but we cannot remember without her. How cold is all history, how lifeless all imagery, compared to that which the living nation writes, and the uncorrupted marble bears!

  John Ruskin

  Writing, History, May

  John Ruskin (1849). “The Seven Lamps of Architecture”, p.164

• No architecture can be truly noble which is not imperfect.

  John Ruskin

  Design, Noble, Architecture

  John Ruskin (1854). “On the nature of Gothic architecture: and herein of the true functions of the workman in art. Being the greater part of the 6th chapter of the 2nd vol. of 'Stones of Venice'. [48 p.].”, p.13

• An architect should live as little in cities as a painter. Send him to our hills, and let him study there what nature understands by a buttress, and what by a dome.

  John Ruskin

  Nature, Cities, Littles

  John Ruskin (2015). “The Seven Lamps of Architecture”, p.122, John Ruskin

• It seems a fantastic paradox, but it is nevertheless a most important truth, that no architecture can be truly noble which is not imperfect.

  John Ruskin

  Important, Noble, Literature

  John Ruskin, Frederick William Roe (2013). “Selections and Essays”, p.231, Courier Corporation

• We must note carefully what distinction there is between a healthy and a diseased love of change; for as it was in healthy love of change that the Gothic architecture rose, it was partly in consequence of diseased love of change that it was destroyed.

  John Ruskin

  Rose, Healthy, Gothic

  John Ruskin (1854). “On the Nature of Gothic Architecture: And Herein of the True Functions of the Workman in Art ...”, p.16

• Architecture concerns itself only with those characters of an edifice which are above and beyond its common use.

  John Ruskin

  Character, Use, Common

  John Ruskin (1849). “The Seven Lamps of Architecture”, p.8

• It was stated, . . . that the value of architecture depended on two distinct characters:--the one, the impression it receives from human power; the other, the image it bears of the natural creation.

  John Ruskin

  Character, Two, Bears

  John Ruskin (1849). “The Seven Lamps of Architecture”, p.94

• In one point of view, Gothic is not only the best, but the only rational architecture, as being that which can fit itself most easily to all services, vulgar or noble.

  John Ruskin

  Views, Noble, Gothic

  John Ruskin (1854). “On the nature of Gothic architecture: and herein of the true functions of the workman in art. Being the greater part of the 6th chapter of the 2nd vol. of 'Stones of Venice'. [48 p.].”, p.18

• I would have, then, our ordinary dwelling-houses built to last, and built to be lovely; as rich and full of pleasantness as may be within and without: . . . with such differences as might suit and express each man's character and occupation, and partly his history.

  John Ruskin

  Character, Men, Differences

  John Ruskin, Louisa Caroline Tuthill (1860). “The True and the Beautiful in Nature, Art, Morals and Religion: Selected from the Works of John Ruskin...”, p.142

• Ornamentation is the principal part of architecture, considered as a subject of fine art.

  John Ruskin

  Art, Architecture, Fine

  John Ruskin (2015). “Lectures on Architecture and Painting”, p.82, John Ruskin

• It is perhaps the principal admirableness of the Gothic schools of architecture, that they receive the results of the labour of inferior minds; and out of fragments full of imperfectionraise up a stately and unaccusable whole.

  John Ruskin

  School, Mind, Architecture

• Don't just look at buildings ... watch them.

  John Ruskin

  Watches, Looks, Architecture

• Architecture ... the adaptation of form to resist force.

  John Ruskin

  Architecture, Adaptation, Form

  John Ruskin (1874). “Val D'Arno: Ten Lectures on the Tuscan Art Directly Antecedent to the Florentine Year of Victories”, p.105

• Architecture is the art which so disposes and adorns the edifices raised by man, that the sight of them may contribute to his mental health, power, and pleasure.

  John Ruskin

  Art, Men, Sight

  John Ruskin (1849). “The Seven Lamps of Architecture”, p.7

• Another of the strange and evil tendencies of the present day is the decoration of the railroad station... There was never more flagrant nor impertinent folly than the smallest portion of ornament in anything connected with the railroads... Railroad architecture has or would have a dignity of its own if it were only left to its work.

  John Ruskin

  Evil, Ornaments, Railroads

• So long as we see the stones and joints, and are not deceived as to the points of support in any piece of architecture, we may rather praise than regret the dexterous artifices which compel us to feel as if there were fibre in its shafts and life in its branches.

  John Ruskin

  Regret, Long, Support

  John Ruskin (1849). “The Seven Lamps of Architecture”, p.34

• You cannot have good architecture merely by asking people's advice on occasion. All good architecture is the expression of national life and character; and it is produced by a prevalent and eager national taste, or desire for beauty.

  John Ruskin

  Character, Expression, People

  John Ruskin, John D. Rosenberg (1964). “The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings”, p.274, University of Virginia Press

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin