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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.

— William Morris

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Source, in full

"The Beauty of Life", a lecture before the Birmingham Society of Arts and School of Design (19 February 1880), later published in Hopes and Fears for Art: Five Lectures Delivered in Birmingham, London, and Nottingham, 1878–1881 (1882)

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Design

More quotes by William Morris

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

Dreamer of dreams, born out of my due time,
Why should I strive to set the crooked straight?

The Earthly Paradise (1868)

Mastership hath many shifts whereby it striveth to keep itself alive in the world.

A Dream of John Ball (1886)

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.

A Dream of John Ball (1886)

From out the throng and stress of lies,
From out the painful noise of sighs,
One voice of comfort seems to rise:
"It is the meaner part that dies."

All William Morris quotes →

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I have always believed that fashion was not made only to make women more beautiful, but also to reassure them, give them confidence.

Yves Saint-Laurent

When any great design thou dost intend,
Think of the means, the manner, and the end.

John Denham Of Prudence (1668)

Good design is also an act of communication between the designer and the user, except that all the communication has to come about by the appearance of the device itself. The device must explain itself.

Donald Norman The Design of Everyday Things (1988)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: William Morris (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.