Endurance is nobler than strength, and patience than beauty.
John RuskinRead
Punishment is the last and the least effective instrument in the hands of the legislator for the prevention of crime.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Punishment alone is ineffective for preventing crime; it should not be a legislator's primary tool.
John Ruskin's quote emphasizes that relying solely on punishment as a means to deter crime is not only ineffective but also a last resort. Instead, it advocates for more constructive and proactive approaches to addressing the root causes of criminal behavior, suggesting that understanding and reform may lead to a more just society.
Themes
PunishmentCrimeLegislationPreventionJustice
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about criminal justice reform, one could reference this quote to argue for more rehabilitative measures.
More from John Ruskin
All quotes βIn health of mind and body, men should see with their own eyes, hear and speak without trumpets, walk on their feet, not on wheels, and work and war with their arms, not with engine-beams, nor rifles warranted to kill twenty men at a shot before you can see them.
John RuskinRead
You talk of the scythe of Time, and the tooth of Time: I tell you, Time is scytheless and toothless; it is we who gnaw like the worm - we who smite like the scythe. It is ourselves who abolish - ourselves who consume: we are the mildew, and the flame.
John RuskinRead
To be able to ask a question clearly is two-thirds of the way to getting it answered.
John RuskinRead
See that your children be taught, not only the labors of the earth, but the loveliness of it.
John RuskinRead
A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money.
John RuskinRead
Similar quotes
Who does not know the evils of war cannot appreciate its benefits.
Sun TzuRead
Words are not that important when you recognize intentions.
Isabel AllendeRead
We trample the blood of the Son of God underfoot if we think we are forgiven because we are sorry for our sins.
Oswald ChambersRead
Why does man regret, even though he may endeavour to banish any such regret, that he has followed the one natural impulse, rather than the other; and why does he further feel that he ought to regret his conduct? Man in this respect differs profoundly from the lower animals.
Charles DarwinRead
I have made a great discovery. I no longer believe in anything. Objects don't exist for me except in so far as a rapport exists between them and myself. When one attains this harmony, one reaches a sort of intellectual non-existence, what I can only describe as a sense of peace, which makes everything possible and right. Life then becomes a perpetual revelation. That is true poetry.
Georges BraqueRead
Being bodiless, God is nowhere, but as God He is everywhere. If there were a mountain, a place or any part of Creation where God was not, then He would be found to be in some way circumscribed. So He is everywhere and in everything. In what way is this so? Is He contained not by each part but by the whole? No, because then that would be a body. He embraces and encompasses everything, and is Himself everywhere and also above everything, worshipped by true worshippers in His Spirit and Truth.
Gregory PalamasRead