47+ Best William Morris Quotes From The Influential Textile Designer

William Morris was a renowned textile designer, activist, novelist, and poet from Britain.

William Morris created most of his work by hand, often using tools such as woodblocks, tiles, glass, and other glassware to fashion motifs, lines, and patterns. William Morris was responsible for the emergence of the Arts and Crafts movement after the establishment of his design studio Morris and Co. in the year 1861.

William Morris embraced the philosophy of John Ruskin, which favored hand-craftsmanship, placing high-value artists, and producing art that would be easily accessible and affordable to the general public. He didn't believe in the hierarchy system that was placed on various artistic mediums.

One of William Morris's most famous sayings includes the quote, "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 was well known for the contributions he made to the world of poetry, especially Victorian poetry.

He was also a prolific novelist and translator of various Icelandic works.

We have a bunch of interesting quotes by William Morris that will amuse you, so hang on for the ride! Here is a curated list of quotes about William Morris.

If you would like to read other quotes by other prominent writers, you can check our William Wordsworth quotes and Keats quotes.

Famous William Morris Quotes

Here's a list of popular quotes by William Morris.

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

- William Morris.

2. "Let tomorrow cross its own rivers."

- William Morris.

3. "No man is good enough to be another's master."

- William Morris.

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

- William Morris.

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

- William Morris.

6.  "Nothing should be made by man’s labor which is not worth making, or which must be made by labor degrading to the makers."

- William Morris.

7. "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."

- William Morris.

8. "The greatest foe to art is luxury, art cannot live in its atmosphere."

- William Morris.

9. "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.

10. "The heart desires, the hand refrains. The Godhead fires, the soul attains."

- William Morris.

11. "Count on, rest not, for hope is dead."

- William Morris.

12. "My work is the embodiment of dreams in one form or another."

- William Morris.

13. "Rejoice, lest pleasureless ye die."

- William Morris.

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

- William Morris.

15. "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."

- William Morris.

William Morris Quotes About Beauty and Design

If you're a fan of quotes that exude grace, beauty, and wit, then these quotes will be just your cup of tea. These quotes are also great for those looking for textile designer quotes. Here's a list of quotes about beauty and design by William Morris.

16. "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.

17. "Nothing useless can be truly beautiful."

- William Morris.

18. "How can you care about the image of a landscape, when you show by your deeds that you don't care for the landscape itself?"

- William Morris.

19. "Wherever nature works, there will be beauty."

- William Morris.

20. "There is no excuse for doing anything which is not strikingly beautiful."

- William Morris.

21. "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.

22. "Don't think too much of style."

- William Morris.

23. "Remember that a pattern is either right or wrong. It cannot be forgiven for blundering, as a picture may be which has otherwise great qualities in it."

- William Morris.

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

- William Morris.

25. "With the arrogance of youth, I determined to do no less than to transform the world with Beauty."

- William Morris.

26. "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.

27. "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.

28. "No pattern should be without some sort of meaning."

- William Morris.

29. "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.

30. "Art is the expression of man's pleasure in labour."

- William Morris.

31. "Put very succinctly, architectural effect depends upon the nice balance of horizontal, vertical, and oblique."

- William Morris.

32. "Its contempt of simple pleasures which everyone could enjoy but for its folly? Its eyeless vulgarity which has destroyed art, the one certain solace of labour?"

- William Morris.

33. "Architecture would lead us to all the arts, as it did with earlier means: 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.

Inspirational William Morris Quotes

Here are some inspirational quotes by William Morris.

34. "A good way to rid oneself of a sense of discomfort is to do something."

- William Morris.

35. "Boundless risk must pay for boundless gain."

- William Morris.

36. "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. Not only his own thoughts, but the thoughts of the men of past ages guide his hands; and, as a part of the human race, he creates...if we work thus we shall be men, and our days will be happy and eventful."

- William Morris.

37. "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.

38. "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.

39. "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."

- William Morris.

40. "Love is enough: though the World be a-waning, and the woods have no voice but the voice of complaining."

- William Morris.

41. "We are only the trustees for those who come after us."

- William Morris.

42. "To do nothing but grumble and not to act - that is throwing away one's life."

- William Morris.

43. "Wealth is what Nature gives us and what a reasonable man can make out of the gifts of Nature for his reasonable use. "

- William Morris.

William Morris Quotes About Life

Here are some quotes about life by William Morris.

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

- William Morris.

45. "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.

46. "Not on one strand are all life's jewels strung."

- William Morris.

47. "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.

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

- William Morris.

49. "The reward of labour is life. Is that not enough?"

- William Morris.

50. "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.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for William Morris quotes then why not take a look at ['Be Different' quotes], or Andy Warhol quotes.