John Ruskin, what a mind, what a person! I was introduced to him some years back and he has written on many subjects but I'll give you a sample here because he is truly a fascinating and wise person.

Ruskin

  "Among the heroic souls who have sought to recover the lost paradise and recapture the glory of an undefiled and blessed world stands John Ruskin, oft an apostle of gentle words that heal like medicines, and sometimes a prophet of Elijah-like sternness and grandeur, consuming man's sins with works of flame. Thomas Carlyle wrote to Emerson saying, "There is nothing going on among us as notable as those fierce lightning bolts Ruskin is copiously and desperately pouring into the black world of anarchy around him. No other man has in him the divine rage against iniquity, falsity, and baseness that Ruskin has, and every man ought to have."

Regarding his respect for all people -  "One morning, crossing the field toward the Matterhorn, he met a suffering peasant, and in that hour, the mountain become as nothing in the presence of his brother man.

In all his later books he is a light bearer, seeking to guide men into happiness and virtue. He reminds the weary king and the tormented slave alike that the secrets of happiness are in "drawing hard breath over chisel, or spade, or plow, n watching the corn grow and the blossom set, and, after toil, in reading, thinking, in hoping and praying. Would any man be strong, let him work; or wise, let him observe and think; or happy, let him help; or influential, let him sacrifice and serve."

Regarding foolish sacrifices for wealth Ruskin wrote,

"Does some youth deny beauty to the eye, books to the mind, and friendship to the heart, that he may gather gold and daily eat stalled ox in a palace? This youth is a prince who has voluntarily entered a dungeon to spend his time gathering the rotting straw from the damp stones to twist it into a filthy wreath for his forehead.

  Does some Samson of industry use his superior wisdom to gather into his hands all the lines of some branch trade while others starve? He is like unto a wrecker, who lures some good ship upon the rocks that he may clothe himself with garments and possess purses taken from the bodies of brave men slain by deceit."