- Date
- 1867
Meaning of “Labor without joy is base.”
Ruskin rejects an account of labor that treats ceaseless exertion as sufficient in itself, insisting that a right human life must make room for more than work alone.
Where does it come from?
Time and Tide by Weare and Tyne, Letter V, “The Corruption of Modern Pleasure—(Covent Garden Pantomime.),” paragraph 21, printed page 16 in Project Gutenberg #31196’s represented Library Edition text. “Labor without joy is base” occurs in Ruskin’s three-part discussion of labor, sorrow and joy and remains Victorian Christian-moral / social argument rather than a modern occupational-health or psychological rule.
