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

— William Morris, The Decorative Arts: Their Relation to Modern Life and Progress, 1877

About William Morris

1834 – 1896

English designer, poet and socialist, a leader of the Arts and Crafts movement.

“It is of the nature of man, when he is not diseased, to take pleasure in his work under certain conditions.”

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

“So I say, if you cannot learn to love real art; at least learn to hate sham art and reject it.”

“Warriors of the light are not perfect. Their beauty lies in accepting this fact and still desiring to grow and to learn.”

“Learn the art of Silence; the wise Man that holds his Tongue, says more than the Fool who speaks.”

“Most wretched men are cradled into poetry by wrong; They learn in suffering what they teach in song.”

“Education is the acquisition of the art of the utilisation of knowledge.”

“It does not follow because many books are written by persons born in America that there exists an American literature.”

“Triumphal arch, that fill'st the sky When storms prepare to part, I ask not proud Philosophy To teach me what thou art.”