Quote

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

William Morris

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

William Morris
Age: 62 †
Born: 1834
Born: March 24
Died: 1896
Died: October 3
Wilcumestowe
William M. Morris
Art
Cannot
Live
Foe
Luxury
Atmosphere
Greatest

More quotes by William Morris

Image
A world made to be lost, - A bitter life 'twixt pain and nothing tost.
William Morris
Image
Not on one strand are all life's jewels strung.
William Morris
Image
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
Image
The heart desires, the hand refrains. The Godhead fires, the soul attains.
William Morris
Image
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
Image
My work is the embodiment of dreams in one form or another.
William Morris
Image
Love is enough: though the world be a-waning, And the woods have no voice but the voice of complaining.
William Morris
Image
Apart from the desire to produce beautiful things, the leading passion of my life has been and is hatred of modern civilization.
William Morris
Image
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
Image
No man is good enough to be another's master.
William Morris
Image
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
Image
I know a little garden close Set thick with lily and red rose, Where I would wander if I might From dewy dawn to dewy night. And have one with me wandering.
William Morris
Image
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
Image
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
Image
I do not want art for a few any more than education for a few, or freedom for a few.
William Morris
Image
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
Image
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
Image
What is an artist but a workman who is determined that, whatever else happens, his work shall be excellent?
William Morris
Image
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
Image
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