85 Rose Quotes Honoring Our Life, Beauty and Thorns (2022)

Our latest collection of rose quotes will inspire you and encourage growth in your life.

That alluring scent and lovely petals are loved by many, but there is pain in beauty at times, and the rose is proof of it. Are you in search of rose quotes to honor life, beauty, and the thorns we cannot escape?

Roses are literally the queen of flowers. We all love and appreciate their beauty. They send a strong message of love, possess a heavenly scent, and have breathtaking colors.

But besides representing something pristine and lovely, roses can impart a lot of wisdom on us. Just as a rosebud opens up into a beautiful bloom under the right conditions, we should also find what we need to make our dreams flourish.

We should develop the ability to survive and become strong just like the rose grows thorns to protect itself from harm. As you work towards your goals and dreams, you should enjoy your journey as much as the destination, seeing as to how the rose is beautiful at each stage of its life cycle.

Roses require pruning to allow them to thrive. Similarly, we must embrace the seasons of “pruning” in our lives to encourage new growth and help us move forward.

Roses delight our senses in so many ways. In honor of their incredible beauty, below is our collection of beautiful, wise, and inspirational rose quotes, rose sayings, and rose proverbs, collected from a variety of sources over the years.

Also, check out these garden quotes that inspire kindness.

Rose quotes honoring our life, beauty and thorns

1. “No rose without a thorn.” – French Proverb

2. “My life is part humor, part roses, part thorns.” – Bret Michaels

3. “A rose’s rarest essence lives in the thorn.” – Rumi (see more quotes by Rumi)

4. “Do not watch the petals fall from the rose with sadness, know that, like life, things sometimes must fade, before they can bloom again.” – Anonymous

5. “But he that dares not grasp the thorn. Should never crave the rose.” – Anne Bronte

6. “The sharp thorn often produces delicate roses.” – Ovid

7. “True love is like little roses, sweet, fragrant in small doses. – Ana Claudia Antunes

8. “Rose never propagandize its fragrant, but its own fragrance spreads surrounding.” – Sukarno

9. “If you enjoy the fragrance of a rose, you must accept the thorns which it bears.” – Isaac Hayes

10. “If the rose is a beautiful flower, it is also because it opens itself.” – Charles De Leusse

If you’re enjoying this article, you might also love our collection of yellow quotes for a happy aesthetic.

Rose quotes on life and beauty

11. “Everybody loves roses: they are the symbol of virtually everywhere, from England to North Dakota. They are an international icon for innocence, and beauty, and rugby; the knee-jerk favorite of politicians, poets, and other enemies of civilization.” – Charlotte Mendelson

12. “When love came first to earth, the Spring Spread rose-beds to receive him.” – Thomas Campbell

13. “Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete? Proving nature’s laws wrong, it learned to walk without having feet. Funny, it seems to by keeping it’s dreams; it learned to breathe fresh air. Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else even cared.” – Tupac Shakur

14. “Real beauty is in the fragility of your petals. A rose that never wilts isn’t a rose at all.” – Crystal Woods

15. “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-Exupery

16. “A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives you roses.” – Chinese Proverb

17. “Love is much like a wild rose, beautiful and calm, but willing to draw blood in its defense.” – Mark Overby

18. “Some people grumble that roses have thorns; I am grateful that thorns have roses.” – Alphonse Karr

19. “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

20. “A life filled with love, must have some thorns, but a life empty of love will have no roses.” – Anonymous

Also, check out these inspirational sunflower quotes that are filled with life lessons.

Rose quotes that will make you rethink the way you’re living your life.

21. “Where, you tend a rose, my lad, a thistle cannot grow.” – Frances Hodgson Burnett

22. “A single rose can be my garden… a single friend, my world.” – Leo Buscaglia

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of garden quotes about the power of nature.

23. “Just remember, during the winter, far beneath the bitter snow, that there’s a seed that with the sun’s love in the spring becomes a rose.” – Leanne Rimes

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of snow quotes that celebrate the winter season.

24. “We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon-instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.” – Dale Carnegie

25. “This rose is an extra. Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.” – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

26. “For the rose, though its petals be torn asunder, still smiles on, and it is never cast down.” – Rumi

27. “Beauty without virtue is like a rose without scent.” – Anonymous

28. “Life is like a rose garden – Watch for the thorns and keep the pest dust handy” – Anonymous

29. “The world is a rose, smell it, and pass it to your friends.” – Persian Proverb

30. “Thorns and roses grow on the same tree.” – Turkish Proverb

Don’t forget to also read these witty flower quotes that will remind you to smell the roses.

Rose quotes to encourage growth in your life

31. “Discipline trains you to put up with disappointments, every rose has a thorn.” – Sai Baba

32. “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
If you’re enjoying these quotes, you’ll love our collection of iconic vine quotes to make you LOL.

33. “The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose” – Kahlil Gibran

34. “True friendship is like a rose, we don’t realize its beauty until it fades.” – Anonymous

35. “You may break, you may shatter the vase, if you will, but the scent of the roses will hang round it still.” – Thomas Moore

36. “A relationship is like a rose. How long it lasts, no one knows.” – Rob Cella

37. “Forgiveness is the scent that the rose leaves on the heel that crushes it.” – Anonymous

38. “The rose is fairest when its budding new, and hope is brightest when it dawns from fears.” – Sir Walter Scott

39. “When life throws thorns, hunt for roses.” – Anonymous

40. “God gave us memories that we might have roses in December.” – J. M. Barrie

If you’re enjoying this article, you might also like these colorful blue quotes that will delight your senses and spark creativity.

Rose quotes to inspire and teach

41. “A life with love must have some thorns, but a life with no love will have no roses.” – Anonymous

42. “A woman is like a rose…If you take good care of her, you will see love blossom.” – Anonymous

43. “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” – Abraham Lincoln

44. “What a lovely thing a rose is!” – Arthur Conan Doyle

45. “It’s the time you spent on your rose that makes her so important.” – Antoine De Saint Exupéry

46. “I’d rather let you cover all my roads with thorns than with dead roses.” – Nema Al-Araby

47. “There may be many flowers in a man’s life…but only one rose.” – Anonymous

48. “The rose and the thorn, and sorrow and gladness are linked together.” – Saadi

49. “Love and a red rose can’t be hid.” – Thomas Holcroft

50. “A rose must remain with the sun and the rain or its lovely promise won’t come true.” – Ray Evans

You might also like these pineapple quotes celebrating the queen of tropical fruits.

More rose quotes and sayings

51. “Every rose has its thorn, just like every night has its dawn.” – Poison, ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorn.”

52. “Roses do not bloom hurriedly; for beauty, like any masterpiece, takes time to blossom.” – Matshona Dhliwayo

53. “A rose does not answer its enemies with words, but with beauty.” – Matshona Dhliwayo

54. “The gentle rose offers a powerful joy known only to the heart.” – Andrew Pacholyk

55. “I love rose gold – it’s just beautiful and classy and timeless.” – Madelaine Petsch

56. “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

57. “The rose that is democracy has its own thorns. We have to bear with it.” – DON SANTO

58. “Love planted a rose, and the world turned sweet.” – Katharine Lee Bates

59. “One rose says more than the dozen.” – Wendy Craig

60. “The Rose is without an explanation; She blooms, because She blooms.” – Angelus Silesius

61. “One rose is enough for the dawn.” – Edmond Jabes

62. “The rose speaks of love silently, in a language known only to the heart.” – Unknown

63. “The fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose.” – George William Curtis

64. “Love planted a rose, and the world turned sweet.” – Katharine Lee Bates

65. “The world looks better through rosé colored glasses.” – Unknown

Don’t forget to also check out these farmer quotes that will make you love the land.

Beautiful rose quotes for everyone

66. “Truths and roses have thorns about them.” — Henry David Thoreau

67. “There’s no gift more classic and more beautiful than roses.” — La La Anthony

68. “I’d rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck.” — Emma Goldman

69. “Smell the roses. Smell the coffee. Whatever it is that makes you happy.” — Rita Moreno

70. “Won’t you come into the garden? I would like my roses to see you.” — Richard Brinsley Sheridan

71. “What though youth gave love and roses, Age still leaves us friends and wine.” — Thomas Moore

72. “A rose to the living is more than sumptuous wreaths to the dead.” – Nixon Waterman

73. “It will never rain roses: when we want to have more roses we must plant more trees.” — George Eliot

74. “As you walk down the fairway of life you must smell the roses, for you only get to play one round.” — Ben Hogan

75. “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

Rose quotes and captions for Instagram

76. “Rosé the day away.”

77. “Love is the only rose whose thorn’s prick is sweet.”

78. “Stop and smell the rosé.”

79. “It is the best time you have spent on your rose that makes your rose so important.”

80. “Where there’s a will, there’s a rosé.”

81. “True love is like little roses, sweet and fragrant in small doses.”

82. “A rose in full bloom is truly but a pretty sight, something worth wasting my time upon.”

83. “A woman is like a rose if you take good care of her, you will see love blossom.”

84. “The roses were close friends. Their friendship was almost unbeatable.”

85. “A thorn defends the rose, harming only those who would steal the blossom.”

Poetic rose quotes

85. “But the rose leaves herself upon the brier, For winds to kiss and grateful bees to feed.” – John Keats

86. “Of all the flowers, methinks a rose is best.” – William Shakespeare

87. “Life is like a rose, peeping through the hardships of life to bloom with color.” – Stephanie

88. “She who loves roses must be patient and not cry out when she is pierced by thorns.” – Olga Broumas

89. “Count the roses, not the thorns.” – Matshona Dhliwayo

90. “A rose does not lose sleep because it was mocked by weeds.” – Matshona Dhliwayo

91. “Friends are the roses of life. Pick them carefully and avoid the thorns!” – Anonymous

92. “But ne’er the rose without the thorn.” – Robert Herrick

93. “I am not the rose, but I have lived near the rose.” – Geoffery Chaucer

94. “Roses, roses, roses, I thank all the roses that bloom in the Spring.”– Andy Williams

95. “Gather the rose of love whilst yet is time.” – Edmund Spenser

Which of these rose quotes was your favorite?

We love roses for many reasons. They are beautiful; they symbolize love, and no other flower’s scent can compare to that of a rose.

Roses can also afford us many life lessons, serving as a highly effective metaphor. Hopefully, the above quotes will encourage growth and help you move forward.

Did you enjoy these rose quotes? Which of the quotes resonated with you best? Let us know in the comment section below. Also, don’t forget to share the quotes with your friends and followers.