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.”

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

“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.”

“The greatest foe to art is luxury, art cannot live in its atmosphere.”

“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.”

“...what I mean by Socialism is a condition of society in which there should be neither rich nor poor, neither master nor master's man, neither idle nor overworked, neither brain\xadslack brain workers, nor heart\xadsick hand workers, in a word, in which all men would be living in equality of condition, and would manage their affairs unwastefully, and with the full consciousness that harm to one would mean harm to all—the realisation at last of the meaning of the word commonwealth.”

“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 vigour of the earlier world?”

“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.”

“Pray but one prayer for me 'twixt thy closed lips, Think but one thought of me up in the stars.”

“Wert thou more fickle than the restless sea, Still should I love thee, knowing thee for such.”

“The majesty That from man's soul looks through his eager eyes.”

“Now such an one for daughter Creon had As maketh wise men fools and young men mad.”

“O thrush, your song is passing sweet When my dear Love and I were young.”

“From out the throng and stress of lies, "It is the meaner part that dies."”

“I too But boundless risk must pay for boundless gain.”

“Rejoice, lest pleasureless ye die. Take all] the gifts that Death and Life may give!”

“Earth, left silent by the wind of night, Seems shrunken 'neath the gray unmeasured height.”

“Late February days; and now, at last, So fair the sky was and so soft the air.”

“A world made to be lost, — A bitter life 'twixt pain and nothing tost.”

“Of Heaven or Hell I have no power to sing, The idle singer of an empty day.”

“The heavy trouble, the bewildering care From us poor singers of an empty day.”

“Dreamer of dreams, born out of my due time, Lulled by the singer of an empty day.”

“It happened once, some men of Italy Whereof my story keepeth not the name.”

“I do not want art for a few any more than education for a few, or freedom for a few.”

“One was there who left all his friends behind; A long-deserted ruined castle stood.”

“Noble the house was, nor seemed built for war, By lapse of time unto dim ruin brought.”

“History has remembered the kings and warriors, because they destroyed; art has remembered the people, because they created.”

“And there he saw a door within the wall, While nought but ruin I can see around".”

“No pillager or wrecker had been there; Rich with the wealth of some forgotten race.”

“The wanderer trembled when he saw all this, The heedless wanderer from the light of day”

“Upon the floor uncounted medals lay Were stored great gems, worthy the crowns of kings.”

“And then the image, that well-nigh erased Enfolded in a serpent's scaly rings.”

“There sat a woman, whose wet tresses rolled To one poor shepherd, lighted up Troy town.”

“"Alas, alas! another day gone by, And on the trembling man with great eyes gazed.”

“"God grant indeed thy words are not for nought! But well enough my saviour now to be.”

“A queen I was, what Gods I knew I loved, Then shalt thou think them devilish or divine.”

“For Queen Diana did my body change The sleepy mariner I do affright.”

“Drowsy I lie, no folk at my command, Yea, half the world with such a sight as this.”

“"Wilt thou not save me? once in every year Whose eyes e'en now are weeping at my tale?”

“Ah! wilt thou leave me then without one kiss, Low whispered words within some lonely place?”

“So on he went, and on the way he thought When such a love my yearning heart shall bless."”

“Meanwhile the dragon, seeing him clean gone, To brood above the hidden heaps of gold.”

“Love is enough: have no thought for to-morrow Ye who have paid for your bliss with great sorrow...”

“Till again shall the change come, and words your lips say not And the world ye thought waning is glorious and good...”

“It took me years to understand that words are often as important as experience, because words make experience last.”

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

“O surely this morning all sorrow is hidden, Where silent ye sit midst the world's tale increased.”

“Lo, the lovers unloved that draw nigh for your blessing! The dreams of the dawn wherein death and hope strive.”

“Ah, what shall we say then, but that earth threatened often That earth's garden may bloom round my love's feet and me?”

“Love is enough: it grew up without heeding As the morning and evening passed over its treasure.”

“And what do ye say then? — That Spring long departed Found Winter upon us and waste of dull hours.”

“Nay, Spring was o'er-happy and knew not the reason, And the leaf and the blossom in the ripe fruit are blended.”

“It sprang without sowing, it grew without heeding, But daylong your bosom now nurseth its treasure.”

“Love is enough: draw near and behold me — Pass by me, and hearken, and think of me not!”

“Ye know not how void is your hope and your living: — Pass by me and harken, and waken me not!”

“Wherewith will ye buy it, ye rich who behold me? — Pass by me, I hearken, and think of you not!”

“Love is enough: through the trouble and tangle I met him, and we wrestled, and great was my might.”

“And the Shadow of the Night and not Love was departed; With no rest of the night for my soul waxen weak.”

“If you cannot learn to love real art, at least learn to hate sham art and reject it.”

“With no rest of the night; for I waked mid a story Of pleasure laid up for his people's reward.”

“Love is enough: cherish life that abideth, For his bliss grown a sword, and his rest grown a fire?”

“Live on, for Love liveth, and earth shall be shaken As ye wend to pluck out the new world from the fire.”

“Morn shall meet noon O sweet day, O rich day, made long for our love!”

“Let us speak, love, together some words of our story, O soft day, O calm day, made clear for our sake!”

“Eve shall kiss night, The dear rain of thy weeping.”

“Love is enough: while ye deemed him a-sleeping, When the summer was deepest and music most sweet...”

“All wonder of pleasure, all doubt of desire, — Sweet rest, O my soul, and no fear of returning!”

“Love is enough: ho ye who seek saving, Cry out, the World heedeth not, "Love, lead us home!"”

“O hearken the words of his voice of compassion: As ye cry to me heeding, and leading you home."”

“Come — pain ye shall have, and be blind to the ending! Cry out, for one heedeth, who leadeth you home!”

“I want a real revolution, a real change in society: society, a great organic mass of well-regulated forces used for the bringing-about a happy life for all.”

“To give people pleasure in the things they must perforce use, that is one great office of decoration; to give people pleasure in the things they must perforce make, that is the other use of it. Does not our subject look important enough now? I say that without these arts, our rest would be vacant and uninteresting, our labour mere endurance, mere wearing away of body and mind.”

“I do not want art for a few, any more than education for a few, or freedom for a few.”

“It is right and necessary that all men should have work to do which shall be worth doing, and be of itself pleasant to do; and which should be done under such conditions as would make it neither over-wearisome nor over-anxious.”

“Nothing should be made by man's labour which is not worth making; or which must be made by labour degrading to the makers.”

“Forsooth, ye have heard it said that ye shall do well in this world that in the world to come ye may live happily for ever; do ye well then, and have your reward both on earth and in heaven; for I say to you that earth and heaven are not two but one; and this one is that which ye know, and are each one of you a part of, to wit, the Holy Church, and in each one of you dwelleth the life of the Church, unless ye slay it.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Soon there will be nothing left except the lying dreams of history, the miserable wreckage of our museums and picture-galleries, and the carefully guarded interiors of our aesthetic drawing-rooms, unreal and foolish, fitting witnesses of the life of corruption that goes on there, so pinched and meagre and cowardly, with its concealment and ignoring, rather than restraint of, natural longings; which does not forbid the greedy indulgence in them if it can but be decently hidden.”

“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.”

“Worthy work carries with it the hope of pleasure in rest, the hope of the pleasure in our using what it makes, and the hope of pleasure in our daily creative skill. All other work but this is worthless; it is slaves' work — mere toiling to live, that we may live to toil.”

“If others can see it as I have seen it, then it may be called a vision rather than a dream.”

“The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.”

“If you cannot learn to love real art, at least learn to hate sham art and reject it.”

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

“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.”

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

“I do not want art for a few any more than education for a few, or freedom for a few.”

“History has remembered the kings and warriors, because they destroyed; art has remembered the people, because they created.”

“No man is good enough to be another's master.”

“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.”

“Not on one strand are all life's jewels strung.”