quotations about roses
The petals numbered but degrade to prose
Summer's triumphant poem of the rose.
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
E. G. DE R.
Rose, oh pure contradiction, desire,
To be no one's sleep under so many lids.
RAINER MARIA RILKE
his epitaph, composed sometime before October 27, 1925
Sweet spring is full of sweet days and roses; it is a box of variegated sweets.
GEORGE HERBERT
attributed, Day's Collacon
Roses are among the most ancient of plants. A thirty-five million years old fossil of a rose was found in North America. Roses originated in Asia about 70 million years ago.
CAROL CHICCI
"Gardening Etcetera: A rose is a rose was a rose", Arizona Daily Sun, September 30, 2017
My poor worried heart was almost certain
That this love affair would never be
Then I sent a dozen yellow roses and
From that moment, she belonged to me
ANDY WILLIAMS
"...And Roses and Roses"
We taste the fragrance of the rose.
MARK AKENSIDE
The Pleasures of Imagination
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 White Rose
Love is a rose, but you'd better not pick it
Only grows when it's on the vine
Handful of thorns and you know you've missed it
Lose your love when you say the word mine
LINDA RONSTADT
"Love Is a Rose"
Sweet rose, whose hue, angry and brave,
Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye,
Thy root is even in the grave,
And thou must die.
GEORGE HERBERT
Vertue
That afternoon my mother had brought me the roses. "Save them for my funeral," I'd said.
SYLVIA PLATH
The Bell Jar
Roses are unique down to the very design of their blooms. Some of the flowers may have tight, perfect blooms, while others are round and lush with an abundance of petals. Some are ideal for a beautiful wedding bouquet, while others look best loosely floating in a crystal vase. A rose's color draws the most attention. From the richest red to the deepest black and every color in between, roses can tell a story, bring a smile, or evoke a memory without speaking a word.
MELISSA ANDREWS
"A Fall Fragrance", Columbia Metropolitan, October 5, 2017
I feel as if I had opened a book and found roses of yesterday sweet and fragrant, between its leaves.
LUCY MAUD MONTGOMERY
Anne of the Island
The Roses are coming! bright June's lovely flowers,
New-born of the sunshine, and nourished by showers!
In green mossy buds the young leaves folded lie,
Now near to burst forth as mild zephyrs float by.
From their embryo-couch, as to light they unfold,
What heart but exults their first blush to behold?
Carnation, fair lily, nor violet disclose
Such beauty and grace as doth Flora's queen-rose!
CHARLES KENWORTHY
"The Roses Are Coming", Original Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects
The rose that all are praising
Is not the rose for me.
THOMAS HAYNES BAYLY
The Rose That All Are Praising
A rose is sweeter in the bud than full blown.
JOHN LYLY
Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit
Red roses are at her feet,
(Roses are red in her red-gold hair)
And O where her bosom and girdle meet
Red roses are hidden there.
OSCAR WILDE
"The Dole of the King's Daughter"
So, timely you came, and well you chose,
You came when most needed, my winter rose.
From the snow I pluck you, and fondly press
Your leaves 'twixt the leaves of my leaflessness.
ALFRED AUSTIN
"My Winter Rose", Lyrical Poems
I arose like a rose, and this is how I knew I was in love. In the garden of life, I'm better off in your neighbor's yard.
JAROD KINTZ
This Book is Not For Sale
And once I knew a meditative rose
That never raised its head from bowing down,
Yet drew its inspiration from the stars.
It bloomed and faded here beside the road,
And, being a poet, wrote on empty air
With fragrance all the beauty of its soul.
HENRY ABBEY
"A Morning Pastoral", We taste the fragrance of the rose.
Of course, an ordinary passerby would think my rose looked just like you. But my rose, all on her own, is more important than all of you together, since she's the one I've watered.
ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY
The Little Prince