What William Morris thinks about agency

@william-morris · 20 positions · On ppll ↗

English designer, writer and socialist (1834 to 1896); author of Signs of Change.

William Morris did not write this page.

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Only William Morris on agency. See everyone on agency

4 dated positions, c. 1883–1888, in their own words. Our reading of what William Morris has said — not written or endorsed by them.

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1. c. 1883–1888

   Our readingLetting machines be our masters rather than our servants is what injures the beauty of life today

   Their wordsI don’t quite admit that; it is the allowing machines to be our masters and not our servants that so injures the beauty of life nowadays.

   ↗Signs of Change: Seven Lectures (1888; 1896 edition)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book

3. c. 1883–1888

   Our readingTrying to change the present system piecemeal underrates how strongly it grinds people into their places

   Their wordsThose who think that they can deal with our present system in this piecemeal way very much underrate the strength of the tremendous organization under which we live, and which appoints to each of us his place, and if we do not chance to fit it, grinds us down till we do.

   ↗Signs of Change: Seven Lectures (1888; 1896 edition)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book

5. c. 1883–1888

   Our readingArt cannot result from external compulsion, because the labour that produces it is voluntary

   Their wordsIn other words, I believe that art cannot be the result of external compulsion; the labour which goes to produce it is voluntary, and partly undertaken for the sake of the labour itself, partly for the sake of the hope of producing something which, when done, shall give pleasure to the user of it.

   ↗Signs of Change: Seven Lectures (1888; 1896 edition)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book

7. c. 1883–1888

   Our readingMaking someone do the same task every day with no hope of change turns their life into a prison-torment

   Their wordsTo compel a man to do day after day the same task, without any hope of escape or change, means nothing short of turning his life into a prison-torment.

   ↗Signs of Change: Seven Lectures (1888; 1896 edition)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book