Foolish Extravagances by John Ruskin

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Feb 11, 1904

Foolish Extravagances

By John Ruskin

I AM no advocate for meanness of private habitation. I would fain introduce into it all magnificence, care, and beauty, where they are possible; but I would not have that useless expense in unnoticed fineries or formalities—cornicing of ceilings, and grainings of doors, and fringing of curtains, and thousands of such things, which have become foolishly and apathetically habitual, things on which common appliance hangs whole trades, to which there never belonged the blessing of giving one ray of real pleasure, or becoming of the remotest or most contemptible use,—things which cause half the expense of life, and destroy more than half its comfort, manliness, respectability, freshness, and facility. I speak from experience: I know what it is to

live in a cottage with a deal floor and roof, and a hearth of mica-slate; and I know it to be in many respects healthier and happier than living between a Turkey carpet and a gilded ceiling, beside a steel grate and a polished fender. I do not say that such things have not their place and propriety; but I say this emphatically, that a tenth part of the expense which is sacrificed in domestic vanities, if not absolutely and meaninglessly lost in domestic comforts and encumbrances, would, if collectively afforded and wisely employed, build a marble church for every town in England.—John Ruskin.