“every time I've held a rose,
It seems I only felt the thorns”

—  Billy Joel

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Billy Joel 103
American singer-songwriter and pianist 1949

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“And every time I've held a rose
It seems I only felt the thorns.
And so it goes, and so it goes.
And so will you soon I suppose.”

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“I've learned that empowered thinking is a choice — a state of mind. It's the ability to enjoy a rose with no mind of the thorn.”

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“Before man's fall the rose was born,
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“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.”

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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.

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