This quote waiting for review.

“Thorns map the cactus’s past; the flowers sketch its hope — sudden, fragrant rebellions against its own harshness.”

Last update Sept. 14, 2026. History

Related quotes

“Before man's fall the rose was born,
St. Ambrose says, without the thorn;
But for man's fault then was the thorn
Without the fragrant rose-bud born; But ne'er the rose without the thorn.”

Robert Herrick book Hesperides

"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)

“A flower blossoms for its own joy.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

“Even if they (Children) try to pluck it,
the flower submits itself onto their hands.
If it happens to prick their heels,
the thorn scorns itself all its life.”

Suman Pokhrel (1967) Nepali poet, lyricist, playwright, translator and artist

<span class="plainlinks"> Children http://www.occupypoetry.net/children_1/</span> <br class="br">From Poetry

“I'da flipped every mattress, every rock and desert cactus.
Owned a collection of maps and followed my kids to the edge of the atlas. If someone ever moved 'em from me.”

Eminem (1972) American rapper and actor

"Headlights"
2010s, The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013)

“No people can live in the past - not even in its own past. But if it no longer has a link with its history, it must of necessity perish. Persia, crowded with hardship and glory, ordeals and hopes. With the help of the Almighty, the lessons of the past constitute the best guide for the citizens of the future.”

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1919–1980) Shah of Iran

Page 15
Publications, The Shah's Story (1980), On Iranian history

“Metaphysical rebellion is a claim, motivated by the concept of a complete unity, against the suffering of life and death and a protest against the human condition both for its incompleteness, thanks to death, and its wastefulness, thanks to evil.”

Albert Camus book The Rebel

Part 2: Metaphysical Rebellion
The Rebel (1951)

“The planted seed consigned to common earth,
Disdains to moulder with the baser clay;
But rises up to meet the light of day,
Spreads all its leaves, and flowers, and tendrils forth;
And, bathed and ripened in the genial ray,
Pours out its perfume on the wandering gales,
Till in that fragrant breath its life exhales.”

Anne Lynch Botta (1815–1891) writer, poet, socialite

Aspiration

“Love is a flower that grows in any soil, works its sweet miracles undaunted by autumn frost or winter snow, blooming fair and fragrant all the year, and blessing those who give and those who receive.”

Louisa May Alcott book Little Men

Source: Little Men

“If you count the thorns, the flower disappears.”

Avner Strauss (1954) Israeli musician

The Rains, Anyhow.

“What is it but a map of busy life,
Its fluctuations, and its vast concerns?”

William Cowper The Task

Source: The Task (1785), Book IV, The Winter Evening, Line 55.

“Thorns map the cactus’s past; the flowers sketch its hope — sudden, fragrant rebellions against its own harshness.”

Related quotes

Related topics