“What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have yet to be discovered.”

“Kill the losers. You have to be ruthless in weeding out the sickly plants so that the best specimens can flourish.”

Paul Sloane (1950) British author and puzzle designer

“Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.”

Erma Bombeck (1927–1996) When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent le…

“Some men, under the notion of weeding out prejudice, eradicate virtue, honesty and religion.”

Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, and poet

“There is in gardens a plant which one ought to leave dry, although most people water it. It is the weed called envy.”

Cosimo de' Medici (1389–1464) First ruler of the Medici political dynasty

“Prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.”

Francis Bacon book Essays

“The master of the garden is the one who waters it, trims the branches, plants the seeds, and pulls the weeds. If you merely stroll through the garden, you are but an acolyte.”

Vera Nazarian (1966) American writer

“Pernicious weed! whose scent the fair annoys,
Unfriendly to society's chief joys,
Thy worst effect is banishing for hours
The sex whose presence civilizes ours.”

William Cowper (1731–1800) (1731–1800) English poet and hymnodist

“Beware of flattery! 'tis a flowery weed,
Which oft offends the very idol-vice,
Whose shrine it would perfume.”

Elijah Fenton (1683–1730) British poet

“the Indians, were like the weeds. That roses you had to water and give fertilizer or they’d die. But weeds, indigenous plants, you gave them nada-nothing; hell, you even poisoned them and put concrete over them, and those weeds would still break the concrete, reaching for the sunlight of God. “That’s the power of our people,” my father would tell me, “we’re the weeds, LAS YERBAS DE TODO EL MUNDO!””

Victor Villaseñor (1940) American writer