87 Rose Quotes About Natural Beauty, Love, and Thorns
Roses are some of the most beautiful flowers in our world. The common red roses, for instance, are objects of great admiration. Roses often symbolize love, affection, and care. Although its sharp thorn is present, the rose speaks of romance and beauty. Many of the best rose quotes their place in loving situations and the contrast of their appeal with their thorny stems. Read on for our selections of rose quotes to inspire romantic moments and blooming beauty.
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Best rose quotes
Rose plants produce strikingly beautiful flowers with delicate petals despite their sharp thorns. Although the little red roses are the most common ones, roses come in many shades. You’ll find pink roses, white roses, orange roses, and many others. While some striking black roses feature in our rundown of black flowers.
Like a rose, many of us appear tough even though we’d like to embrace our delicate sides. The scent might transport you to sweet memories of love and romance when you smell the roses. Here, we feature some of our favorite rose quotes.
"Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose."
- Gertrude Stein
"There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"One rose says more than the dozen."
- Wendy Craig
"The rose and the thorn, and sorrow and gladness are linked together."
- Saadi
"One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today."
- Dale Carnegie
Rose quotes about beauty
Roses are many people’s favorite flowers. Roses come in many shades, each holding its unique beauty. You can watch in appreciation, whether it's the white rose or the red rose. With effortless ease, the rose shares its beauty with the world. Looking for some quotes that celebrate the rose’s beauty? We’ve compiled some of the best below.
"Rose is the most beautiful flower - it and tuberose are my favourites."
- Aerin Lauder
"That which God said to the rose, and caused it to laugh in full-blown beauty, He said to my heart, and made it a hundred times more beautiful."
- Rumi
"The Rose is without an explanation; She blooms, because She blooms."
- Angelus Silesius
"If the rose is beautiful flower, it is also because it opens itself."
- Charles De Leusse
"Loveliest of lovely things are they on earth that soonest pass away. The rose that lives its little hour is prized beyond the sculptured flower."
- William Cullen Bryant
"Beauty is an ecstasy; it is as simple as hunger. There is really nothing to be said about it. It is like the perfume of a rose: you can smell it and that is all."
- W. Somerset Maugham
Rose quotes about love
Nothing says “I love you” like a bouquet of red roses. These flowers have served as symbols of love and romance for the longest time. People often turn to roses when they want to communicate their love to others through objects. Between friends, lovers, and families, the rose serves as a reminder of the love they share. So, whenever you’re looking for something sweet to tell a loved one how you feel, a bunch of roses can do the job. Here are some rose quotes about love.
"The rose is the flower of love. The world has acclaimed it for centuries. Pink roses are for love hopeful and expectant. White roses are for love dead or forsaken, but the red roses, ah the red roses are for love triumphant."
- Unknown
"Love planted a rose, and the world turned sweet."
- Katharine Lee Bates
"When love first came to Earth, the Spring spread rose-beds to receive him."
- Thomas Campbell
"One rose is enough for the dawn."
- Edmond Jabes
"Love is much like a wild rose, beautiful and calm, but willing to draw blood in its defense.
"
- Mark Overby
"Love thou the rose, yet leave it on its stem."
- Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton
"The rose is the flower and handmaiden of love - the lily, her fair associate, is the emblem of beauty and purity."
- Dorothea Dix
"Gather the rose of love whilst yet is time."
- Edmund Spenser
"Love and a red rose can't be hid."
- Thomas Holcroft
True love is like little roses, sweet, fragrant in small doses.
~ Ana Claudia Antunes
My love is like a rose divided into two, the leaves I give to others, but the rose I give to you.
~ Anonymous
Quotes about roses, life, and living
Like a rose, life comes with its thorns and petals. However, we can celebrate their presence rather than wait to watch the petals fall. Sometimes, challenging situations lead us to some important realizations. As Ovid said, “The sharp thorn often produces delicate roses.” The rose can prompt us to consider much about living with its delicate yet spikey aspects. In this section, let’s dive into some quotes about roses, life, and living.
"We have chased away the clouds, the sky is all 'rose.'"
- Francois Hollande
"When autumn darkness falls, what we will remember are the small acts of kindness: a cake, a hug, an invitation to talk, and every single rose. These are all expressions of a nation coming together and caring about its people."
- Jens Stoltenberg
"A profusion of pink roses bending ragged in the rain speaks to me of all gentleness and its enduring."
- William Carlos Williams
"If roses tried to be sunflowers, they would lose their beauty; and if sunflowers tried to be roses, they would lose their strength."
- Matshona Dhliwayo
"English Rose' - what does that actually mean? That I am pale? That I am English, maybe? They are going to say that about any actress from this country!"
- Rachel Hurd-Wood
"I’d rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck."
- Emma Goldman
"Forgiveness is the scent that the rose leaves on the heel that crushes it."
- Anonymous
"Smell the roses. Smell the coffee. Whatever it is that makes you happy"
- Rita Moreno
"An idealist is one who, on noticing that roses smell better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup."
- H. L. Mencken
"In real life, unlike in Shakespeare, the sweetness of the rose depends upon the name it bears. Things are not only what they are. They are, in very important respects, what they seem to be."
- Hubert H. Humphrey
"Our eyes reflect light. Better that the lips are more like a rose petal."
- Olivier Theyskens
"I can't feel bad about being who I am, just like the girl next to me can't feel bad about being who she is. Because a rose can never be a sunflower, and a sunflower can never be a rose."
- Miranda Kerr
"I want to encourage women to embrace their own uniqueness. Because just like a rose is beautiful, so is a sunflower, so is a peony. I mean, all flowers are beautiful in their own way, and that's like women too."
- Miranda Kerr
"I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: no good in a bed, but fine up against a wall."
- Eleanor Roosevelt
"A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world."
- Leo Buscaglia
Rose quotes about their thorns
Rose stems are adorned with prickly thorns, which doesn’t deny their beautiful nature. Although many of us regard these sharp parts as thorns, botanists mainly identify them as prickles. These pointed outgrowths are a natural part of the plant’s stem. Some botanists believe that these prickles help roses protect themselves from unwanted insects and animals, serving as a defense mechanism. Let’s explore some rose quotes about their thorns.
"But he that dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose."
- Anne Bronte
"Only in art will the lion lie down with the lamb, and the rose grow without thorn."
- Martin Amis
"Live in Thorns but always enchant the hearts with your fragrance."
- Alok Jagawat
Related read: Heart Quotes.
"But he that dares not grasp the thorn. Should never crave the rose."
- Anne Bronte
"We can complain because rose bushes have thorns or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses."
- Abraham Lincoln
"I'd rather let you cover all my roads with thorns than with dead roses."
- Nema Al-Araby
"Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses.
"
- Alphonse Karr
"My life is part humor, part roses, part thorns. "
- Bret Michaels
"A rose's rarest essence lives in the thorn. "
- Rumi
"The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose."
- Kahlil Gibran
"The sharp thorn often produces delicate roses."
- Ovid
"Love speaks in flowers. Truth requires thorns."
- Leigh Bardugo
"Life is like a rose garden — watch for the thorns and keep the pest dust handy."
- Anonymous
"If all we had were roses, would the thorns then be beautiful?"
- Kamand Kojouri
"If you enjoy the fragrance of a rose, you must accept the thorns which it bears."
- Isaac Hayes
Rose petal quotes
Rose petals are delicate with sweet scents. Due to their edible nature, many people enjoy a cup of rose tea. This is rich in antioxidants and high in Vitamin C. Rose petals are objects of admiration all around the world. As a result, they deserve special attention. Here, we feature quotes, especially about rose petals.
"It is at the edge of the petal that love waits."
- William Carlos Williams
"A rose dreams of enjoying the company of bees, but none appears. The sun asks: Aren’t you tired of waiting? Yes, answers the rose, but if I close my petals, I will wither and die."
- Paulo Coelho
"Do not watch the petals fall from the rose with sadness, know that, like life, things sometimes must fade, before they can bloom again"
- Unknown
Quotes about growing roses and rose gardens
If you want to grow roses, early spring or fall is the best time to start. Roses grow with the sun’s love. Most rose bushes need about six hours of sunlight daily to bloom and thrive in direct sunlight. Plus, the roses’ sweet, fragrant scents are all anyone needs to experience a beautiful day. This section features some rose quotes about growing these beautiful flowers.
Related read: Gardening Quotes.
"It will never rain roses: when we want to have more roses we must plant more trees."
- George Eliot
"A rose must remain with the sun and the rain or its lovely promise won’t come true."
- Ray Evans
"Rose never propagandizes its fragrant, but its own fragrance spreads surrounding."
- Sukarno
"Won’t you come into the garden? I would like my roses to see you."
- Richard B Sheridan
"The gardener who loves roses is slave to a thousand thorns."
- Turkish proverb
"I'd love to have a really flourishing vegetable garden, and I'd love to have a better area for a rose garden or a cutting garden, but I don't. You have to develop a garden in the way that it's meant to be developed."
- Julie Andrews
Red rose quotes
Red roses are symbols of passion. People often share these during first dates or on special occasions like Valentine’s. The red rose is the most popular of the rose shades and a significant symbol of love. Although people love other variants like the white rose, something is daring and alluring about the red ones. We’ve compiled some of the best red rose quotes here if you especially love this rose variant. Below, you can explore these sayings and quotes.
"The red rose whispers of passion, And the white rose breathes of love; O, the red rose is a falcon, And the white rose is a dove."
- John Boyle O’Reilly
"A red rose is not selfish because it wants to be a red rose. It would be horribly selfish if it wanted all the other flowers in the garden to be both red and roses."
- Oscar Wilde
"I like roses as red as blood. I smell lilies as white as milk. I grow irises as purple as my dreams. So, let me give you peonies as pink my kiss."
- Alena Shubina Lis
"Roses! I swear you men have all your romance from the same worn book. Flowers are a good thing, a sweet thing to give a lady. But it is always roses, always red, and always perfect hothouse blooms when they can come by them."
- Patrick Rothfuss
Rose quotes from the arts and literature
Unsurprisingly, roses inspire many people in the arts and literature field. You’ll find these flowers in various pieces as the primary muse or supporting characters. Below, we’ve compiled some of the best rose quotes from the arts and literature for you to explore.
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
- William Shakespeare
"World without poetry is like a lover without a rose."
- Shiny
"Since love first made the breast an instrument Of fierce lamenting, by its flame my heart Was molten to a mirror, like a rose I pluck my breast apart, that I may hang This mirror in your sight."
- Muhammad Iqbal
"Writing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo."
- Don Marquis
"Poetry without truth, is like a rose without thorns. Still pretty, But sometime the real beauty comes from the things that can make us bleed."
- Cody Edward Lee Miller
"It’s the time that you spent on your rose that makes your rose so important…People have forgotten this truth, but you mustn’t forget it. You become responsible forever for what you’ve tamed. You’re responsible for your rose."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
"Can anyone remember love? It's like trying to summon up the smell of roses in a cellar. You might see a rose, but never the perfume."
- Arthur Miller
"There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted."
- Henri Matisse
"But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
From fairest creatures we desire increase That thereby beauty's rose might never die.
~ William Shakespeare
Famous short rose quotes & sayings perfect for Instagram
Are you looking for short, sweet sayings that are perfect rose captions for your photos? You’ll find them here. Below, we feature some famous short quotes about roses that you can use anytime.
"Roses are red, violets are blue, I’ll never love someone the way I love you."
- Unknown
"When life throws thorns, hunt for roses."
- Unknown
"I never promised you a rose garden."
- Traian Basescu
"Roses are red, violets are blue, but I wouldn’t know since I don’t get them from you."
- Anonymous
"Take time to smell the roses."
- Proverb
"My love flowers like a rose"
- Unknown
What a lovely thing a rose is!
~ Arthur Conan Doyle
Roses fall, but the thorns remain.
~ Dutch Proverb
A woman is like a rose if you take good care of her, you will see love blossom.
~ Unknown
Truths and roses have thorns about them.
~ Henry David Thoreau
The world is a rose; smell it and pass it to your friends.
~ Old Persian Proverb
Thorns and roses grow on the same tree.
~ Turkish Proverb
Jen’s a passionate environmentalist and sustainability expert. With a science degree from Babcock University Jen loves applying her research skills to craft editorial that connects with our global changemaker and readership audiences centered around topics including zero waste, sustainability, climate change, and biodiversity.
Elsewhere Jen’s interests include the role that future technology and data have in helping us solve some of the planet’s biggest challenges.
