It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside. — Maud Hart Lovelace, Besty-Tacy and Tib

Wouldn’t it be nice if roses could talk? I’m sure they could tell us such lovely things. –Lucy Maud Montgomery

Roses Personified

Won’t you come into my garden? I would like my roses to see you. –Richard Brinsley Sheridan Normally we show off the roses to friends. This quote offers you a different perspective and gives a pretty compliment to your friend. Your roses are watching you.

But the rose leaves herself upon the brier, for winds to kiss and grateful bees to feed. –John Keats A woman is like a rose. She makes the briar more beautiful. She blooms where she is planted. She stays through the storm or sunshine, adding to the world’s beauty with every passing day. Those nearby benefit from her faithfulness.

“Wild roses,” I said to them one morning. “Do you have the answers? And if you do, would you tell me?” The roses laughed softly. “Forgive us,” they said. “But as you can see, we are just now entirely busy being roses.” –Mary Oliver Answers can be found in doing what it is you are given to do.

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 Hope keeps us blooming.

If the rose puzzled its mind over the question of how it grew, it would not have been the miracle that it is. –J. B. Yeats You are as much of a miracle as the rose. Do not question it but trust Him who brought you to this time and place. He placed you here now.

Wisdom of Roses

The rose does not answer her enemies with words, but with beauty. –Matshona Dhliwayo No matter the circumstance you find yourself in, take the high road and remain unbothered. Respond with beauty.

A rose does not lose sleep because it was mocked by weeds. –Matshona Dhliwayo A weed is a plant growing where it isn’t wanted, maybe invasive and competitive. You are a culitvated plant, and even tho others words or deeds mock you, continue developing yourself with confidence.

A rose must remain with the sun and the rain or it’s lovely promise won’t come true. –-Ray Evans Roses must endure both sun and rain. For the most blooms they must be pruned and in winter they wait under the snow. These things work together for the good of the rose. When you wonder why this hard time has come, or storms are in your life, remember the rose. We would like success without doing the work, but every step of the transformation is neccessary.

A rose does not lose it’s beauty because it grew among thorns. — Matshona Dhliwayo Don’t blame your environment for your problems or weaknesses. A lady is a lady even among the trials.

If the rose is a beautiful flower, it is also because it opens itself. — Charles De Leusse A rose opens itself whether blooming on the side of a dusty road, or in the hayfield that will soon be mowed down, or in a lovingly tended flower bed. They grown along waterfalls, in the shade or out of old tree stumps. A rose is vulnerable and shares it’s beauty to those who notice, those who carelessly tread on them or even pluck them.

What of the Thorns?

But he who dares not grasp the thorn, should never crave the rose. — Anne Bronte If you pick roses, be brave to risk feeling the thorn. Dare to risk the difficulties of going for your goals.

Truths and roses have thorns about them. –Henry David Thoreau Cultivating roses and truths in our lives puts us in the way of thorns and criticisms.

We can complain because rose bushes have thorns or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses. –Abraham Lincoln Focus on the thorns. Focus on the roses. You will see what you look for.

When life throws thorns, hunt for roses. –Anonymous This is the lemons and lemonade proverb with flowery images. Troubled times may have hidden blessings.

Rose Care

It will never rain roses: when we want to have more roses, we must plant more trees. –George Elliot (Mary Ann Evans) Roses don’t fall out of the sky. Good habits must be cultivated. Plant good thoughts in your mind and water them daily with your attention.

Where you tend a rose, my lad, a thistle cannot grow. –Frances Hodgson Burnett in The Secret Garden Be so busy growing good things in your life, the weeds are shaded out.

Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows, lies the seed that with the suns love in the spring becomes a rose. –Bette Midler

It is by believing in roses that you make them bloom. — Anatole France

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

A rose that never wilts isn’t a rose at all. –Crystal Woods Sometimes we feel fragile. That is because you are alive and not a silk rose, which is a poor substitute for the real one.

Dried Roses

God gave us memories so that we might have roses in December. –J. M. Barrie Memories of love cheer us again and again, even in the Decembers of our lives.

Those who don’t pick roses in summer won’t pick them in winter either. — German Proverb Winter, old age, or change is coming. Enjoy the good things in your life today. Give them the roses while you may.

You may break, you may shatter the vase, if you will, but the scent of the rose will hang around still. — Thomas Moore You too, can leave lovely memories behind you.

Forgiveness is the scent that the rose leaves on the heel that crushes it. — Anonymous

Oh, that’s the beauty of the rose, that it blossoms and dies. — Willa Cather Transient things are more precious because of their limitations.

A Rose is a Rose

A rose is a rose is a rose. –Gertrude Stein At any stage, whether winter dormancy, in the bud, full blown or petals falling, a rose is a rose. Life brings its changes and seasons, but you are you.

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. –William Shakespeare With this declaration, Juliet Capulet claims Romeo’s name doesn’t matter. She loves him even if he is from the rival Montegue family. Whatever labels you have, you are loveable.

I feel as if I had opened a book and found roses of yesterday, sweet and fragrant, between its leaves. — L. M. Montgomery, Anne of the Island

Consider the rose
Growing in the dusty lane
She opens her heart 
To wind, dust, sun and rain
To bee and butterfly and pain.

I hope these pictures and quotes inspired you today! –Liz