Ruins Quotes

• What's old collapses, times change, And new life blossoms in the ruins.

  Friedrich Schiller

  Inspirational, Courage, New Life

  "William Tell". Play by Friedrich Schiller (Act IV, Scene II), 1804.

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• We live ruins amid ruins.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Art, Philosophy, History

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• Where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure.

  Rumi

  Spiritual, Positive Thinking, Hardship

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• Ruin is when man-made has become part of nature.

  Marco Casagrande

  Nature, Men, Made

  Marco Casagrande (2012). “Biourban Acupuncture. Treasure Hill of Taipei to Artena”, p.9, International Society of Biourbanism

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• Some ruins of ancient times are much more beautiful than the best buildings of modern eras!

  Mehmet Murat Ildan

  Beautiful, Eras, Ancient

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• A ruin should always be protected but never repaired - thus may we witness full the lingering legacies of the past.

  Walter Scott

  War, Past, Legacy

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• Ruin seize thee, ruthless king! Confusion on thy banners wait! Though fann'd by Conquest's crimson wing, They mock the air with idle state.

  Thomas Gray

  Kings, Air, Wings

  'The Bard' (1757) l. 1

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• Let us consider, brethren, we are struggling for our best birthrights and inheritance, which being infringed, renders all our blessings precarious in their enjoyments, and, consequently triffling in their value. Let us disappoint the Men who are raising themselves on the ruin of this Country. Let us convince every invader of our freedom, that we will be as free as the constitution our fathers recognized, will justify.

  Samuel Adams

  Country, Father, Struggle

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• All my life I have painted pictures so that certain people would drop dead when they looked at them, but I have not succeeded yet. The worst painting cant hurt you, but a bad driver can kill you, a bad judge can send you to the chair, a bad politician can ruin an entire country, That is why even a bad painting is sacred.

  Man Ray

  Country, Hurt, People

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• There's a fascination frantic in a ruin that's romantic.

  W. S. Gilbert

  Fascination, Frantic

  'The Mikado' (1885) act 2

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• It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.

  Warren Buffett

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Success

  Richard J. Connors, Warren Buffett (2010). “Warren Buffett on Business: Principles from the Sage of Omaha”, p.5, John Wiley & Sons

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• The ruins of time build mansions in eternity.

  William Blake

  Time, Eternity, Mansions

  William Blake (2008). “The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake”, p.705, Univ of California Press

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• You can't change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying about the future.

  Isak Dinesen

  Wise, Past, Worry

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• Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation.

  Elizabeth Gilbert

  Inspirational, Tough Times, Crumbling

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• History fades into fable; fact becomes clouded with doubt and controversy; the inscription molders from the tablet: the statue falls from the pedestal. Columns, arches, pyramids, what are they but heaps of sand; and their epitaphs, but characters written in the dust?

  Washington Irving

  Fall, Character, Dust

  Washington Irving (2006). “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories From the Sketch Book”, p.144, Penguin

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• The broken eggshell of a civilization which time has hatched and devoured.

  Julia Ward Howe

  Civilization, Broken, Eggshells

  Julia Ward Howe (1868). “From the Oak to the Olive: A Plain Record of a Pleasant Journey”, p.171

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• You can reconstruct the picture from chaos and memory's ruins.

  Kay Boyle

  Memories, Chaos, Reconstruction

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• Love among the ruins... I'll tell you something, my friend: Weird love's better than no love at all.

  Stephen King

  My Friends, No Love

  Stephen King (2010). “The Green Mile: The Complete Serial Novel”, p.248, Simon and Schuster

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• Some cities have fallen into ruin and some are built upon ruins but others contain their own ruins while still growing.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Cities, Growing, Fallen

  Jeffrey Eugenides (2011). “The Marriage Plot: A Novel”, p.314, Macmillan

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• Ruin and recovering are both from within.

  Epictetus

  Recovering

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• A thousand years may scare form a state. An hour may lay it in ruins.

  Lord Byron

  Change, Years, Scare

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• Smooth and smiling faces everywhere, but ruin in their eyes.

  Jean-Paul Sartre

  Eye, Faces, Smooth

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• Trample not on the ruins of a man.

  Charles Lamb

  Men

  Charles Lamb (2012). “Charles Lamb: Selected Writings”, p.80, Routledge

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• We moralize among ruins.

  Benjamin Disraeli

  Morality

  Benjamin Disraeli (1847). “Works”, p.257

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• It's like . . . time is flowing backward. We're caveman archeologists in the ruins of the future.

  Dan Wells

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