I doubt that work ennobles man and I am absolutely certain that it does not ennoble woman.

Elena Ferrante
About This Quote

"I doubt that work ennobles man and I am absolutely certain that it does not ennoble woman." This quote is regarded as one of the best-known quotes of John Ruskin, an English critic, social activist, and author. It was written in 1851. Ruskin wrote the quote in response to a question about whether work ennobles man or woman. The point here was how work does not make people noble, but rather makes them subservient to the work they do.

Source: La Frantumaglia

Some Similar Quotes
  1. It turns out that the distance from head to hand, from wafting butterfly to entomological specimen, is achieved through regular, disciplined practice. What begins as something like a dream will in fact stay a dream forever unless you have the tools and the discipline to... - Ann Patchett
  2. I don't like work--no man does--but I like what is in the work--the chance to find yourself. Your own reality--for yourself not for others--what no other man can ever know. They can only see the mere show, and never can tell what it really means. - Joseph Conrad
  3. Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work. - Aristotle
  4. Earning happiness means doing good and working, not speculating and being lazy. Laziness may look inviting, but only work gives you true satisfaction. - Anne Frank
  5. Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds. - Gordon B. Hinckley
More Quotes By Elena Ferrante
  1. How quickly people changed, with their interests, their feelings. Well-made phrases replaced by well-made phrases, time is a flow of words coherent only in appearance, the one who piles up the most is the one who wins.
  2. The solitude of women's minds is regrettable, I said to myself, it's a waste to be separated from each other without procedures, without tradition.
  3. It seemed to me - articulated in words of today - that not only did she know how to put things well but she was developing a gift that I was already familiar with: more effectively than she had as a child, she took the...
  4. Don’t be timid. You’re a writer, use your role, test it, make something of it. These are decisive times, everything is turning upside down. Participate, be present. And begin with the scum in your area, put their backs to the wall.
  5. I didn’t realize that in his wish to transform me was the proof that he didn’t like me as I was, he wanted me to be different, or, rather, he didn’t want just a woman, he wanted the woman he imagined he himself would be...
Related Topics