The statement is often displayed or published in a one-sentence version: "There is hardly anything in the world that cannot be made a little worse and sold a little cheaper, and those who consider price alone are that man's lawful prey."
This statement is also found in this lengthier version: "There is hardly anything in the world that cannot be made a little worse and sold a little cheaper, and those who consider price alone are that man's lawful prey.
[3] George Landow, a professor of English and art history at Brown University and a specialist on Victorian literature is also skeptical of Ruskin's authorship of this statement.
[6] In the 20th century, this statement appeared—without any authorship attribution—in magazine advertisements,[7][8][9] business catalogs,[10] student publications,[11] and, occasionally, in editorial columns.
[3][14] For many years, various Baskin Robbins ice cream parlors prominently displayed a section of the statement in framed signs.