
“No rose without a thorn but many a thorn without a rose.”
A Lesson in Latin (1888), st. 3
Three Sunsets and Other Poems (1898)
“No rose without a thorn but many a thorn without a rose.”
"The Rose" (published c. 1648). Compare: "Flower of all hue, and without thorn the rose", John Milton, Paradise Lost, book iv. line 256.; "Every rose has it's thorn", Poison, "Every Rose Has Its Thorn".
Hesperides (1648)
Section 7 : Spiritual Progress
Founding Address (1876), Life and Destiny (1913)
Context: By what sort of experience are we led to the conviction that spirit exists? On the whole, by searching, painful experience. The rose Religion grows on a thorn-bush, and we must not be afraid to have our fingers lacerated by the thorns if we would pluck the rose.
“Water and stone
Flesh and bone
Night and morn
Rose and thorn
Tree and wind
Heart and mind”
Source: Cybele's Secret
Section 7 : Spiritual Progress
Life and Destiny (1913)
“A stranger's rose is but a thorn.”
In Alien Lands, translated by Leah W. Leonard.