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the freedom for every man to do what he can do best, joined to the knowledge of what productions of labour we really wanted. I must admit that this knowledge we reached slowly and painfully.
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“the freedom for every man to do what he can do best, joined to the knowledge of what productions of labour we really wanted. I must admit that this knowledge we reached slowly and painfully.”

William Morris

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Source
News from Nowhere; Or, An Epoch of Rest
Date
1890
Local voice
Fictional character · Old Hammond
Meaning

Meaning of “the freedom for every man to do what…”

Old Hammond connects useful work with discovering strengths and social needs, while explicitly describing that knowledge as something learned gradually through difficulty.

Source context

Where does it come from?

News from Nowhere, Chapter XV, ‘On the Lack of Incentive to Labour in a Communist Society,’ Project Gutenberg #3261. Old Hammond says the society gained happiness through the absence of artificial coercion, ‘the freedom for every man to do what he can do best,’ and slowly learned knowledge of what labour was wanted. It is fictional utopian dialogue and historical-social argument, not Morris autobiography or settled economic science.

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Why the local voice matters

Old Hammond speaks inside the utopian dialogue of News from Nowhere.

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FreedomGrowthGrowth MindsetInspirational Quotes About Hope, Courage & PossibilityLearning Quotes About Curiosity, Study & ExperienceLifeLife AdviceLife LessonsMeaning of Life Quotes About What Makes Life MatterMindsetMotivation For LifeMotivational Quotes for Action, Effort & PersistencePerseverance Quotes About Sustained EffortPersonal GrowthPurpose Quotes About Direction, Duty & Meaningful WorkStruggle
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Meaning & context

Learning becomes satisfying when it is sustained through repeated application rather than treated as a single act of exposure.

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Meaning & context

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That you must master the secret for yourselves lay implicit in our bargain, and you were never promised that a writer's training would be easy.
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“That you must master the secret for yourselves lay implicit in our bargain, and you were never promised that a writer's training would be easy.”

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Meaning & context

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Source details

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leading an existence rich in thought and full of life and meaning, occupied by worthy and interesting objects as soon as ever he is free to give himself to them
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“leading an existence rich in thought and full of life and meaning, occupied by worthy and interesting objects as soon as ever he is free to give himself to them”

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Meaning & context

Schopenhauer describes a meaningful intellectual life as one filled by sustained engagement with worthy objects of thought rather than by external stimulation alone.

Source details

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Sweet are the uses of adversity.
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“Sweet are the uses of adversity.”

William Shakespeare · As You Like It · c. 1599
Voice: Fictional character · Duke Senior
Meaning & context

Adversity is presented as capable of yielding insight or value even when the experience itself is unwelcome.

Source details

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education ought to do more for a boy
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“education ought to do more for a boy”

Booker T. Washington · Working With the Hands · 1904
Meaning & context

Washington rejects an overly narrow definition of schooling and asks whether education can improve the practical conditions and responsibilities of life.

Source details

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