William Morris Quotes & Sayings

So long as the system of competition in the production and exchange of the means of life goes on, the degradation of the arts will go on; and if that system is to last for ever, then art is doomed, and will surely die; that is to say, civilization will die. — William Morris

If you cannot learn to love real art, at least learn to hate sham art and reject it. — William Morris

Architecture would lead us to all the arts, as it did with earlier mean: but if we despise it and take no note of how we are housed, the other arts will have a hard time of it indeed. — William Morris

The reward of labour is life. Is that not enough? — William Morris

The past is not dead, it is living in us, and will be alive in the future which we are now helping to make. — William Morris

The wind is not helpless for any man's need, Nor falleth the rain but for thistle and weed. — William Morris

Nothing should be made by man's labour which is not worth making, or which must be made by labour degrading to the makers. — William Morris

With the arrogance of youth, I determined to do no less than to transform the world with Beauty. If I have succeeded in some small way, if only in one small corner of the world, amongst the men and women I love, then I shall count myself blessed, and blessed, and blessed, and the work goes on. — William Morris

I cannot suppose there is anybody here who would think it either a good life, or an amusing one, to sit with one's hands before one doing nothing - to live like a gentleman, as fools call it. — William Morris

We are only the trustees for those who come after us. — William Morris

It is the childlike part of us that produces works of the imagination. When we were children time passed so slow with us that we seemed to have time for everything. — William Morris

A world made to be lost, -A bitter life 'twixt pain and nothing tost. — William Morris

It has become an article of the creed of modern morality that all labour is good in itself
a convenient belief to those who live on the labour of others. But as to those on whom they live, I recommend them not to take it on trust, but to look into the matter a little deeper. — William Morris

Late February days; and now, at last,
Might you have thought that
Winter's woe was past;
So fair the sky was and so soft the air. — William Morris

Death have we hated, knowing not what it meant; Life we have loved, through green leaf and through sere, Though still the less we knew of its intent. — William Morris

History has remembered the kings and warriors, because they destroyed; art has remembered the people, because they created. — William Morris

I half wish that I had not been born with a sense of romance and beauty in this accursed age. — William Morris

No man is good enough to be another's master. — William Morris

So I say, if you cannot learn to love real art; at least learn to hate sham art and reject it. It is not because the wretched thing is so ugly and silly and useless that I ask you to cast it from you; it is much more because these are but the outward symbols of the poison that lies within them; look through them and see all that has gone to their fashioning, and you will see how vain labour, and sorrow, and disgrace have been their companions from the first-and all this for trifles that no man really needs! — William Morris

The true secret of happiness lies in the taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life. — William Morris

If a chap can't compose an epic poem while he's weaving tapestry, he had better shut up, he'll never do any good at all. — William Morris

Not on one strand are all life's jewels strung. — William Morris

Beauty, which is what is meant by art, using the word in its widest sense, is, I contend, no mere accident to human life, which people can take or leave as they choose, but a positive necessity of life. — William Morris

Simplicity of life, even the barest, is not a misery, but the very foundation of refinement; a sanded floor and whitewashed walls and the green trees, and flowery meads, and living waters outside; or a grimy palace amid the same with a regiment of housemaids always working to smear the dirt together so that it may be unnoticed; which, think you, is the most refined, the most fit for a gentleman of those two dwellings? — William Morris

A pattern is either right or wrong ... it is no stronger than its weakest point. — William Morris

Love makes clear the eyes that else would never see: "Love makes blind the eyes to all but me and thee. — William Morris

Forsooth, brethren, fellowship is heaven and lack of fellowship is hell; fellowship is life and lack of fellowship is death; and the deeds that ye do upon the earth, it is for fellowship's sake that ye do them. — William Morris

A good way to rid one's self of a sense of discomfort is to do something. That uneasy, dissatisfied feeling is actual force vibrating out of order; it may be turned to practical account by giving proper expression to its creative character. — William Morris

I can see myself still myself all along the way I have gone. - Lady Abundance — William Morris

Another thing much too commonly seen, is an aberration of the human mind which otherwise I should have been ashamed to warn you of. It is technically called carpet-gardening. Need I explain it further? I had rather not, for when I think of it, even when I am quite alone, I blush with shame at the thought. — William Morris

If i were asked to say what is at once the most important production of Art and the thing most to be longed for, I should answer, A beautiful House. — William Morris

No pattern should be without some sort of meaning. — William Morris

Apart from the desire to produce beautiful things, the leading passion of my life has been and is hatred of modern civilization. — William Morris

Talk of inspiration is sheer nonsense; there is to such thing. It is mere a matter of craftsmanship. — William Morris

The lost and found the Cause hath crowned, The Day of Days is here. — William Morris

I am going your way, so let us go hand in hand. You help me and I'll help you. We shall not be here very long ... so let us help one another while we may. — William Morris

Nothing useless can be truly beautiful. — William Morris

Artists cannot help themselves; they are driven to create by their nature, but for that nature to truly thrive, we need to preserve the precious habitat in which that beauty can flourish. — William Morris

Slayer of the winter, art thou here again? O welcome, thou that bring'st the summer nigh! The bitter wind makes not the victory vain. Nor will we mock thee for thy faint blue sky. — William Morris

Do not be deceived by the outside appearance of order in our plutocratic society. It fares with it as it does with the older norms of war, that there is an outside look of quite wonderful order about it; how neat and comforting the steady march of the regiment; how quiet and respectable the sergeants look; how clean the polished cannon ... the looks of adjutant and sergeant as innocent-looking as may be, nay, the very orders for destruction and plunder are given with a quiet precision which seems the very token of a good conscience; this is the mask that lies before the ruined cornfield and the burning cottage, and mangled bodies, the untimely death of worthy men, the desolated home. — William Morris

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful- 1834 — William Morris

If our houses, or clothes, our household furniture and utensils are not works of art, they are either wretched makeshifts, or, what is worse, degrading shams of better things. — William Morris

There is no excuse for doing anything which is not strikingly beautiful. — William Morris

Love is enough: though the world be a-waning, And the woods have no voice but the voice of complaining. — William Morris

The greatest foe to art is luxury, art cannot live in its atmosphere. — William Morris

Don't think too much of style. — William Morris

If there is a reason for keeping the wall very quiet, choose a pattern that works all over without pronounced lines ... Put very succinctly, architectural effect depends upon a nice balance of horizontal, vertical and oblique. No rules can say how much of each; so nothing can really take the place of feeling and good judgement. — William Morris

O thrush, your song is passing sweet, But never a song that you have sung Is half so sweet as thrushes sang When my dear love and I were young. — William Morris

Let tomorrow cross its own rivers. — William Morris

Give me love and work - these two only. — William Morris

If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. — William Morris

Speak but one word to me. — William Morris

Between complete socialism and communism there is no difference whatever in my mind.Communism is in fact the completion of socialism; when that ceases to be militant and becomes triumphant, it will be communism. — William Morris

Forgetfulness of grief I yet may gain;In some wise may come ending to my pain;It may be yet the Gods will have me glad!Yet, Love, I would that thee and pain I had! — William Morris

The heart desires, the hand refrains. The Godhead fires, the soul attains. — William Morris

Ornamental pattern work, to be raised above the contempt of reasonable men, must possess three qualities: beauty, imagination and order. — William Morris

Everything made by man's hands has a form, which must be either beautiful or ugly; beautiful if it is in accord with Nature, and helps her; ugly if it is discordant with Nature, and thwarts her; it cannot be indifferent ... — William Morris

Thus then lived this folk in much plenty and ease of life, though not delicately nor desiring things out of measure. They wrought with their hands and wearied themselves; and they rested from their toil and feasted and were merry: to-morrow was not a burden to them, nor yesterday a thing which they would fain forget: life shamed them not, nor did death make them afraid. — William Morris

What is an artist but a workman who is determined that, whatever else happens, his work shall be excellent? — William Morris

When Socialism comes, it may be in such a form that we won't like it. — William Morris

By God! I will not tell you more to-day, Judge any way you will - what matters it? — William Morris

All rooms ought to look as if they were lived in, and to have so to say, a friendly welcome ready for the incomer. — William Morris

Yea, I have looked, and seen November there; The changeless seal of change it seemed to be, Fair death of things that, living once, were fair; Bright sign of loneliness too great for me, Strange image of the dread eternity, In whose void patience how can these have part, These outstretched feverish hands, this restless heart? — William Morris

Speak not, move not, but listen, the sky is full of gold. No ripple on the river, no stir in field or fold, All gleams but naught doth glisten, but the far-off unseen sea. Forget days past, heart broken, put all memory by! No grief on the green hillside, no pity in the sky, Joy that may not be spoken fills mead and flower and tree. — William Morris

My work is the embodiment of dreams in one form or another. — William Morris

Now let us go, love, down the winding stair,
With fingers intertwined ... — William Morris

I think the thing that impressed me is (AT&T CEO Michael) Armstrong's strategic vision and the fact that he's got John Malone (TCI's chairman) to go along. There's a real commitment to build a new AT&T. — William Morris

So with this Earthly Paradise it is, If ye will read aright, and pardon me, Who strive to build a shadowy isle of bliss Midmost the beating of the steely sea ... — William Morris

From out the throng and stress of lies, from out the painful noise of sighs, one voice of comfort seems to rise: It is the meaner part that dies. — William Morris

Art made by the people for the people, as a joy to the maker and the user, — William Morris

Large or small, [the garden] should be orderly and rich. It should be well fenced from the outside world. It should by no means imitate either the willfulness or the wildness of nature, but should look like a thing never to be seen except near the house. It should, in fact, look like part of the house. — William Morris

To happy folkAll heaviest words no more of meaning bearThan far-off bells saddening the Summer air. — William Morris

I have said as much as that the aim of art was to destroy the curse of labour by making work the pleasurable satisfaction of our impulse towards energy, and giving to that energy hope of producing something worth its exercise. — William Morris

I love art, and I love history, but it is living art and living history that I love. It is in the interest of living art and living history that I oppose so-called restoration. What history can there be in a building bedaubed with ornament, which cannot at the best be anything but a hopeless and lifeless imitation of the hope and vigor of the earlier world? — William Morris

I pondered all these things, and how men fight and lose the battle, and the thing that they fought for comes about in spite of their defeat, and when it comes turns out not to be what they meant, and other men have to fight for what they meant under another name. — William Morris

As to the garden, it seems to me its chief fruit is-blackbirds. — William Morris

Do not be afraid of large patterns, if properly designed they are more restful to the eye than small ones: on the whole, a pattern where the structure is large and the details much broken up is the most useful ... very small rooms, as well as very large ones, look better ornamented with large patterns. — William Morris

[Nature] ever bearing witness against man that he has deliberately chosen ugliness instead of beauty ... — William Morris

If we feel the least degradation in being amorous, or merry or hungry, or sleepy, we are so far bad animals & miserable men. — William Morris

It is for him that is lonely or in prison to dream of fellowship, but for him that is of a fellowship to do and not to dream. — William Morris

Free men must live simple lives and have simple pleasures. — William Morris

Earth, left silent by the wind of night,Seems shrunken 'neath the gray unmeasured height. — William Morris

For hope is dead, for hope is dead. — William Morris

I do not want art for a few; any more than education for a few; or freedom for a few ... — William Morris

One man with an idea in his head is in danger of being considered a madman: two men with the same idea in common may be foolish, but can hardly be mad; ten men sharing an idea begin to act, a hundred draw attention as fanatics, a thousand and society begins to tremble, a hundred thousand and there is war abroad, and the cause has victories tangible and real; and why only a hundred thousand? Why not a hundred million and peace upon the earth? You and I who agree together, it is we who have to answer that question. — William Morris

There is no single policy to which one can point and say - this built the Morris business. I should think I must have made not less than one thousand decisions in each of the last ten years. The success of a business is the result of the proportion of right decisions by the executive in charge. — William Morris

In Prison Wearily, drearily, Half the day long, Flap the great banners High over the stone; Strangely and eerily Sounds the wind's song, Bending the banner-poles. While, all alone, Watching the loophole's spark, Lie I, with life all dark, Feet tethered, hands fettered Fast to the stone, The grim walls, square lettered With prisoned men's groan. Still strain the banner-poles Through the wind's song, Westward the banner rolls Over my wrong. — William Morris

The books I would like to print are the books I love to read and keep. — William Morris

Mastership hath many shifts whereby it striveth to keep itself alive in the world. And now hear a marvel: whereas thou sayest these two times that out of one man ye may get but one man's work, in days to come one man shall do the work of a hundred men - yea, of a thousand or more: and this is the shift of mastership that shall make many masters and many rich men. — William Morris

Count on, rest not, for hope is dead. — William Morris

Whiles in the early Winter eve We pass amid the gathering night Some homestead that we had to leave Years past; and see its candles bright Shine in the room beside the door Where we were merry years agone But now must never enter more, As still the dark road drives us on. E'en so the world of men may turn At even of some hurried day And see the ancient glimmer burn Across the waste that hath no way; Then with that faint light in its eyes A while I bid it linger near And nurse in wavering memories The bitter-sweet of days that were. — William Morris

There was a knight came riding by
In early spring, when the roads were dry;
And he heard that lady sing at the noon,
Two red roses across the moon. — William Morris

A man at work, making something which he feels will exist because he is working at it and wills it, is exercising the energies of his mind and soul as well as of his body. Memory and imagination help him as he works. — William Morris

It took me years to understand that words are often as important as experience, because words make experience last. — William Morris