Unto This LastOne of the most astonishingly versatile British writers of the 19th century, art critic JOHN RUSKIN (1819-1900) held a profound sway on European painting and architecture of the 19th and 20th centuries...but he was also a vital influence on the ideals of the later British Labour party, on Gandhi's peaceful revolution, and on our modern notions of charity and charitable organizations. In this 1862 collection of essays, Ruskin lays out his humanist theory of economics and calls for government intervention in the economy to serve values of social justice, of morality, and of higher aesthetics. Ahead of its time and still of great significance today, this is an inspiring vision of how government and culture might work together for the betterment of all. _______________________ ALSO FROM COSIMO Ruskin's Sesame and Lilies: Three Lectures |
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Page 6
... persons must he antagonistic because their interests are . If there is only a crust of bread in the house , and mother and children are starving , their interests are not the same . If the mother eats it , the children want it ; if the ...
... persons must he antagonistic because their interests are . If there is only a crust of bread in the house , and mother and children are starving , their interests are not the same . If the mother eats it , the children want it ; if the ...
Page 9
... person so cared for , will indeed be the greatest possible . Observe , I say , " of good rendered , " for a servant's work is not necessarily or always the best thing he can give his master . But good of all kinds , whether in material ...
... person so cared for , will indeed be the greatest possible . Observe , I say , " of good rendered , " for a servant's work is not necessarily or always the best thing he can give his master . But good of all kinds , whether in material ...
Page 10
... person , and trust in his character , to a degree wholly unattainable by other means . This law applies still more stringently as the numbers concerned are larger : a charge may often be successful , though the men dislike their ...
... person , and trust in his character , to a degree wholly unattainable by other means . This law applies still more stringently as the numbers concerned are larger : a charge may often be successful , though the men dislike their ...
Page 15
... person , whose trade is buying and selling , should be held in less honour than an unpeaceable and often irrational person , whose trade is slaying . Nevertheless , the consent of man- kind has always , in spite of the philosophers ...
... person , whose trade is buying and selling , should be held in less honour than an unpeaceable and often irrational person , whose trade is slaying . Nevertheless , the consent of man- kind has always , in spite of the philosophers ...
Page 16
... persons interested in their deaths , he was using his best skill to give poison in the mask of medicine . Finally , the principle holds with utmost clearness as it respects clergymen . No goodness of disposition will excuse want of ...
... persons interested in their deaths , he was using his best skill to give poison in the mask of medicine . Finally , the principle holds with utmost clearness as it respects clergymen . No goodness of disposition will excuse want of ...
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Common terms and phrases
absolute advantage bad workmen body bour bread capital cardo catallactic cial commercial consists consumer consumption corn laws COSIMO crosier definition depends desire difference duction economists effective employed ence equal examine exchangeable value existence final force function gain give given gold guinea hands honour human inequalities instance interests Ixion justice kind laws laws of demand less luxury man's manufacture master material means mercantile merchant merely Mill Mill's mind moral nation neighbour nescience never nevertheless obtain operations payment perhaps persons ploughshare political economy poor possession possible power of wealth principles produce profit quantity of labour quantity of wish question rate of wages reader respect result root sense servants soldier soul spect sprat suppose thing Ticino timately tion Tisiphone true Tuscany ultimately unjust Unto This Last velvet waste land wholly word workman
Popular passages
Page 37 - Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate: for the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.
Page 32 - Buy in the cheapest market and sell in the dearest," represents, or under any circumstances could represent, an available principle of national economy. Buy in the cheapest market? — yes; but what made your market cheap? Charcoal may be cheap among your roof timbers after a fire, and bricks may be cheap in your streets after an earthquake; but fire and earthquake may not therefore be national benefits. Sell in the dearest?
Page 60 - ... the persons who become rich are, generally speaking, industrious, resolute, proud, covetous, prompt, methodical, sensible, unimaginative, insensitive, and ignorant. The persons who remain poor are the entirely foolish, the entirely wise, the idle, the reckless, the humble, the thoughtful, the dull, the imaginative, the sensitive, the well-informed, the improvident, the irregularly and impulsively wicked, the clumsy knave, the open thief, and the entirely merciful, just, and godly person.
Page 72 - THERE is NO WEALTH BUT LIFE. Life, including all its powers of love, of joy, and of admiration. That country is the richest which nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human beings; that man is richest who, having perfected the functions of his own life to the utmost, has also the widest helpful influence, both personal, and by means of his possessions, over the lives of others.
Page 9 - The largest quantity of work will not be done by this curious engine for pay, or under pressure, or by help of any kind of fuel which may be supplied by the chaldron. It will be done only when the motive force, that is to say, the will or spirit of the creature, is brought to its greatest strength by its own proper fuel; namely, by the affections.
Page 55 - A truly valuable or availing thing is that which leads to life with its whole strength. In proportion as it does not lead to life, or as its strength is broken, it is less valuable ; in proportion as it leads away from life, it is tinvaluable or malignant.
Page 18 - ... heroisms as well as war. May have — in the final issue, must have — and only has not had yet, because men of heroic temper have always been misguided in their youth into other fields; not recognizing what is in our days, perhaps, the most important of all fields; so that, while many a zealous person loses his life in trying to teach the form of a gospel, very few will lose a hundred pounds in showing the practice of one. The fact is, that people never have had clearly explained to them the...
Page 19 - The stipend is a due and necessary adjunct, but not the object, of his life, if he be a true clergyman, any more than his fee (or honorarium) is the object of life to a true physician.