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

William Morris

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William Morris
Age: 62 †
Born: 1834
Born: March 24
Died: 1896
Died: October 3
Wilcumestowe
William M. Morris
Work
Workmen
Excellent
Determined
Shall
Whatever
Artist
Else
Happens
Workman

More quotes by William Morris

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If you cannot learn to love real art, at least learn to hate sham art and reject it.
William Morris
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The greatest foe to art is luxury, art cannot live in its atmosphere.
William Morris
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We are only the trustees for those who come after us.
William Morris
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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
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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
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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
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I half wish that I had not been born with a sense of romance and beauty in this accursed age.
William Morris
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Apart from the desire to produce beautiful things, the leading passion of my life has been and is hatred of modern civilization.
William Morris
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Forgetfulness of grief I yet may gainIn some wise may come ending to my painIt may be yet the Gods will have me glad!Yet, Love, I would that thee and pain I had!
William Morris
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...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
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You may hang your walls with tapestry insread of whitewash or paper or you may cover them with mosaic or have them frescoed by a great painter: all this is not luxury, if it be done for beauty's sake, and not for show: it does not break our golden rule: Have nothing in your houses which you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.
William Morris
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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
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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
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The wind is not helpless for any man's need, Nor falleth the rain but for thistle and weed.
William Morris
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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
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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
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A pattern is either right or wrong...it is no stronger than its weakest point.
William Morris
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I do not want art for a few any more than education for a few, or freedom for a few.
William Morris
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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
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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