"... you may hang your walls with tapestry instead of whitewash or paper; or you may cover them with mosaic, or have them frescoed by a great painter: all of 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 house which you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."

William Morris in 'The Beauty of Life' lecture 1880

John Duncan 'Angel' Counted Cross Stitch Kit

Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. … She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. … She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.

(Proverbs 31)

"The noblest of the weaving arts is Tapestry",

"Embroidery ... is not worth doing unless it is either very copious and rich, or very delicate - or both."

William Morris in 'Textiles' 1893.

Ah! what a life were this! how sweet! how lovely!
Gives not the hawthorn bush a sweeter shade
To shepherds, looking on their silly sheep,
Than doth a rich embroidered canopy
To kings, that fear their subjects' treachery?

William Shakespeare
Henry the Sixth Part III, Act II, Scene V.

So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was fine flour, honey and olive oil. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen.

(Ezekiel 16)

"She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces thro' the room,
She saw the water lilly bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She looked down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror cracked from side to side;
'The curse is come upon me,' cried
The Lady of Shalott."

Alfred, Lord Tennyson 'The Lady of Shalott'

He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers - all of them master craftsmen and designers.

(Exodus 35)

Celtic Interlace Tapestry Kit

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.

John Adams (1735 - 1826)

A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.

Mao Zedong (Chairman Mao)
Selected Works, vol. 1 (1954)

Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination.

Voltaire (1694 - 1778)

I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning.

(Proverbs 7)

Others stitch the fine cloth, ... divine work that resembles a meadow, when the frost embroiders all in white each leaf and stem.

Frédéric Mistral, Calendau 1867