You may either win your peace or buy it: win it, by resistance to evil buy it, by compromise with evil.

Ruskin contrasts two ways of achieving “peace”: one earned through moral courage, the other purchased through moral surrender. “Winning” peace implies active resistance—enduring conflict, inconvenience, or loss in order to oppose wrongdoing. “Buying” peace implies a bargain with one’s conscience: quiet and comfort obtained by yielding to, excusing, or accommodating evil. The aphorism reflects Ruskin’s broader ethical criticism of Victorian society, where social harmony and economic prosperity were often maintained by overlooking exploitation and injustice. The line warns that tranquility secured by compromise is unstable and corrupting, while genuine peace is inseparable from integrity and principled action.