Quotes about thorn (178 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

“Life is painful. It has thorns, like the stem of a rose. Culture and art are the roses that bloom on the stem. The flower is yourself, your humanity. Art is the liberation of the humanity inside yourself.”

Daisaku Ikeda (1928) Japanese writer

Life , Pain , Art , Flowers

“Life is bristling with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to cultivate one's garden.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

La vie est hérissée de ces épines, et je n'y sais d'autre remède que de cultiver son jardin.
Letter to Pierre-Joseph Luneau de Boisjermain (21 October 1769), from Oeuvres Complètes de Voltaire: Correspondance [Garnier frères, Paris, 1882], vol. XIV, letter # 7692 (p. 478)
Citas

Life

“I would take to be quite a fool any man who would make a book full of laws and statutes for an apple tree telling it how to bear apples and not thorns, when the tree is able by its own nature to do this better than the man with all his books can describe and demand.”

Martin Luther (1483–1546) seminal figure in Protestant Reformation

Source: Temporal Authority: To What Extent It Should Be Obeyed (1523), p. 89

Books , Law , Fools , Nature

“Do grant, O my Lord Jesus, that when my lips approach Thine to kiss Thee, I may taste the gall that was given Thee. And when my shoulders lean against Thine, make me feel Thy scourgings. And when my flesh is united with Thine in the Holy Eucharist, make me feel Thy Passion. And when my head comes near to Thine, make me feel Thy thorns. And when my heart is close to Thine, make me feel Thine embrace.”

Gemma Galgani (1878–1903) ITALIANA

Quoted in The Life of St. Gemma Galgani by her spiritual director Ven. Germanus, trans. A. M. O'Sullivan, 1999, p. 258.

Kiss , Heart , Passion , Making love

“The year's at the spring,
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hill-side's dew-pearl'd;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in His heaven—
All's right with the world!”

Robert Browning Pippa Passes

Part I, line 221.
Source: Pippa Passes (1841)

God , World , Spring

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, exhibit number one is what the seraphs, the misinformed, simple, noble-winged seraphs, envied. Look at this tangle of thorns.”

Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita

Source: Lolita

Envy

“When someone refuses to tell me a certain piece of information, it only makes me that much more determined to find out the truth. I hate being ignorant. For me, a question unanswered is like a thorn in my side”

Christopher Paolini book Brisingr

Source: Brisingr

Hate , Truth , Question

“Wanting to reform the world without discovering one's true self is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes.”

Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950) Indian religious leader

Abide as the Self

Pain , World , Shoe

“Consciousness is much more than the thorn, it is the dagger in the flesh.”

Emil M. Cioran book The Trouble With Being Born

The Trouble With Being Born (1973)

“Look at this tangle of thorns.”

Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita

Source: Lolita

“Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn.”

William Shakespeare book Romeo and Juliet

Source: Romeo and Juliet

Love

“Let him only see the thorns who has eyes to see the rose.”

Rabindranath Tagore Stray Birds

Source: Stray Birds

“It’s hard to let go. Even when what you’re holding onto is full of thorns, it’s hard to let go. Maybe especially then.”

Stephen King book Joyland

Source: Joyland

“As the Arabs say, "The nature of rain is the same, but it makes thorns grow in the marshes and flowers in the gardens.”

Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer

Source: Awareness: Conversations with the Masters

Flowers , Nature

“The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

Flowers , Tree , Light , Summer

“There is darkness in light, there is pain in joy, and there are thorns on the rose.”

Cate Tiernan (1961) American novelist

Pain , Light , Joy

“The world is not respectable; it is mortal, tormented, confused, deluded forever; but it is shot through with beauty, with love, with glints of courage and laughter; and in these, the spirit blooms timidly, and struggles to the light amid the thorns.”

George Santayana (1863–1952) 20th-century Spanish-American philosopher associated with Pragmatism

Love , World , Beauty , Courage

“Life is full of paradoxes, as roses are of thorns.”

Fernando Pessoa book The Book of Disquiet

Source: The Book of Disquiet

Life

“Saepe creat molles aspera spina rosas" - "Often the prickly thorn produces tender roses”

Ovid (-43–17 BC) Roman poet

“Not forgiving someone hurts you worse than it hurts him… even if he doesn't deserve to be forgiven… Not forgiving someone is like not pulling a thorn out of your foot just because you weren't the one who put it there.”

Mercedes Lackey book The Wizard of London

Source: The Wizard of London

Forgiveness , Hurt

“Who fain would sow the fallow field,
And see the growing corn,
Must first remove the useless weeds,
The bramble and the thorn.”
Qui serere ingenuum uolet agrum liberat arua prius fruticibus, falce rubos filicemque resecat, ut noua fruge grauis Ceres eat.

Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (480) philosopher of the early 6th century

Poem I, lines 1-4; translation by H. R. James
The Consolation of Philosophy · De Consolatione Philosophiae, Book III

“What grace could all your worldly power bring
To One whose crown of thorns has made him King,
The Christ who gave His body to the flails,
Who humbly bore the lance and piercing nails?
Or do you fear the rabble might disgrace The One.”

Aleksandr Pushkin (1799–1837) Russian poet

Secular Power
as quoted in Pushkin, Alexander (2009). Selected Lyric Poetry. Northwestern University Press, p. 121.

Fear , Christ

“But strength alone though of the Muses born
Is like a fallen angel: trees uptorn,
Darkness, and worms, and shrouds, and sepulchres
Delight it; for it feeds upon the burrs,
And thorns of life; forgetting the great end
Of poesy, that it should be a friend
To sooth the cares, and lift the thoughts of man.”

John Keats Sleep and Poetry

"Sleep and Poetry", st. 11
Poems (1817)

Life , Angels , Tree , Forgetting

“The art road is paved with thorns.”

Layal Abboud (1982) Lebanese pop singer

June 10, 2009; alkhaleej.ae http://www.alkhaleej.ae/supplements/page/9522cefb-de34-4270-a674-ae2dd76da0ad
2009

Art

“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>
From Poetry

Life , Children , Flowers

“Last night we owned, with looks forlorn,
"Too well the scholar knows
There is no rose without a thorn" —
But peace is made! We sing, this morn,
"No thorn without a rose!"
Our Latin lesson is complete:
We've learned that Love is Bitter-Sweet!”

Lewis Carroll Three Sunsets and Other Poems

A Lesson in Latin (1888), st. 3
Three Sunsets and Other Poems (1898)

Love , Peace , Learning , Singing

“We do not speak. We have gone down along the side of the river — slowly, as if we were climbing — towards the stone seat of the wall. The distances have altered. This seat, for instance, we meet it sooner than we thought we should, like some one in the dark; but it is the seat all right. The rose-tree which grew above it has withered away and become a crown of thorns.”

Henri Barbusse (1873–1935) French novelist

Light (1919), Ch. XIX - Ghosts

Tree

“Misanthropy is a suit of armor lined with thorns.”

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830–1916) Austrian writer

Source: Aphorisms (1880/1893), p. 81.

“Let us try to see things from their better side: You complain about seeing thorny rose bushes; Me, I rejoice and give thanks to the gods That thorns have roses.”

Alphonse Karr (1808–1890) French critic, journalist, and novelist

"Letters written from my garden", 1853

God

“If man's heart bares thistles instead of rose who will dare to admire? Before roses cometh thorns, but people only see the thorns not the roses I bare.”

@Remylifwatila

People , Heart

“Not forgiving someone is like not pulling a thorn out of your foot just because you weren't the one to put it there.”

Mercedes Lackey book The Wizard of London

Source: The Wizard of London

Forgiveness

“Hey Grover! Thorn's kidnapping us! He's a poisonous spike-throwing maniac! Help!”

Rick Riordan book The Titan's Curse

Source: The Titan's Curse

Help

“Bitter love, a violet with it's crown of thorns in a thicet of spiky passions, spear of sorrow, corolla of rage: how did you come to conquer my soul? What brought you?”

Pablo Neruda (1904–1973) Chilean poet

Source: 100 Love Sonnets

Love , Soul , Rage , Passion

“No rose without a thorn but many a thorn without a rose.”

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher

“Why had such a promising world been crucified on the tree of obligation, thorned by duties, hanged by hypocrisy, smothered by customs?”

Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer

Source: The Bridge Across Forever: A True Love Story

World , Tree

“I'm scared," Nico mumbled. He was fiddling with something—a little metal toy soldier of some kind.
"Stop talking!" Dr. Thorn said. "Face me!”

Rick Riordan book The Titan's Curse

Source: The Titan's Curse

“The thorns which I have reap'd are of the tree
I planted; they have torn me, and I bleed.
I should have known what fruit would spring from such a seed.”

George Gordon Byron (1788–1824) English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement

Spring , Tree

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

Billy Joel (1949) American singer-songwriter and pianist

Time

“It was not the thorn bending to the honeysuckles, but the honeysuckles embracing the thorn.”

Emily Brontë book Wuthering Heights

Nelly Dean (Ch. X).
Source: Wuthering Heights (1847)
Context: She seemed almost over fond of Mr. Linton; and even to his sister she showed plenty of affection. They were both very attentive to her comfort, certainly. It was not the thorn bending to the honeysuckles, but the honeysuckles embracing the thorn.

“I'm old enough to make you look like an embryo. [Thorn]”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Bad Moon Rising

“He stepped back and threw his arms out.
"I'm always crazy around you Rose. Here, I'm going to write an impromptu poem for you."
He tipped his head back and shouted to the sky:
"Rose is in red
But never in blue
Sharp as a thorn
Fights like one too.”

Richelle Mead Shadow Kiss

Source: Shadow Kiss

Fight

“I see time away hasn’t made you any more charming. (Fang)
Oh, I can be charming. I just choose not to. People start to think you like them, then when you stab them in the back, they take it so personally. Really pisses me off. (Thorn)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Bad Moon Rising

People , Thinking , Time , Personality

“Life is like licking Honey from a Thorn”

Holly Black (1971) American children's fiction writer

Source: Ironside

Life

“Think of your pain like a bunch of red roses, a beautiful thorn necklace. Everyone has one.”

Francesca Lia Block (1962) American children's writer

Pain , Beauty , Thinking

“I can alter my life by altering my attitude. He who would have nothing to do with thorns must never attempt to gather flowers.”

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist

Life , Flowers

“I am a thornbush, bristling from the overattention of my parents, and he is a man of a million little fatherly stab wounds, and my thorns fit perfectly into them.”

Gillian Flynn book Gone Girl

Source: Gone Girl

Parent

“He who wants a rose must respect her thorn.”

André Gide (1869–1951) French novelist and essayist

Wise

“You know what’s a great metaphor for love? Sleeping beauty. Because you have to plow through this incredible thicket of thorns in order to get to beauty, and even then, when you get there, you still have to wake her up.
— Tiny Cooper”

David Levithan book Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Source: Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Love , Beauty , Sleep

“Water and stone
Flesh and bone
Night and morn
Rose and thorn
Tree and wind
Heart and mind”

Juliet Marillier book Cybele's Secret

Source: Cybele's Secret

Tree , Water , Heart , Night

“Only in art will the lion lie down with the lamb, and the rose grow without thorn.”

Martin Amis (1949) Welsh novelist

Lie , Art

“And I flunked anger management the moment I put the counselor through a stone wall. You might want to keep that in mind.
[Thorn]”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Bad Moon Rising

Anger

“And the heart that is soonest awake to the flowers
Is always the first to be touch'd by the thorns.”

Thomas Moore (1779–1852) Irish poet, singer and songwriter

Oh think not my Spirits are always as light.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Flowers , Heart

“Rose is in red,
But never in blue,
Sharp as a thorn,
Fights like one too.”

Richelle Mead Shadow Kiss

Source: Shadow Kiss

Fight

“Untilled ground, however rich, will bring forth thistles and thorns; so also the mind of man.”

Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582) Roman Catholic saint

“Your thorns are the best part of you.”

Marianne Moore (1887–1972) American poet and writer

Parting

“I can tell we’re going to get along like Batman and the Joker. (Fang)
Just remember one thing, world. I’m the best friend you’ll ever have or the last enemy you’ll ever make. (Thorn)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Bad Moon Rising

World

“But he, that dares not grasp the thorn
Should never crave the rose.”

Anne Brontë (1820–1849) British novelist and poet

The Narrow Way (1848)
Context: On all her breezes borne
Earth yields no scents like those;
But he, that dares not grasp the thorn
Should never crave the rose.

Beauty

“I Fall upon the thorns of life….”

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Romantic poet

Life

“My mother says that pain is hidden in everyone you see. She says try to imagine it like big bunches of flowers that everyone is carrying around with them. Think of your pain like a big bunch of red roses, a beautiful thorn necklace. Everyone has one.”

Francesca Lia Block book Witch Baby

Source: Witch Baby

Pain , Beauty , Imagination , Flowers

“But the world turns, and even legends change; and somewhere there is a border, and sometime, perhaps, someone will decide to cross it, however well guarded its thorns may be.”

Robin McKinley (1952) American fantasy writer

Source: The Door in the Hedge

World , Change

“I will no longer wound myself with the thoughts and questions that have surrounded me like thorns: that is a penance You do not ask of me.”

Thomas Merton (1915–1968) Priest and author

Source: The Sign of Jonas

Question

“What is the spiritual battle? Well, the soul is a garden divided into two parts. On one half are planted thorny bushes, and on the other half flowers. We also have a water pump with two taps and two channels. The one guides the water to the thorns and the other to the flowers. I always have the choice to open one or the other tap. I leave the thorns without water and they dry up, I water the flowers and they blossom.”

Porphyrios Bairaktaris (1906–1991) Greek Saint

Precious Vessels of the Holy Spirit - The Lives and Counsels of Contemporary Elders of Greece, p. 170

Soul , Flowers , Water , Parting

“When Ms Düsap heard that I was also about to embark on a literary career, Mrs. Düsap warned me that a crown of thorns rather than a crown of laurels awaited women on this road. In this world of ours it is not tolerated when a woman does well and claims a place for herself. In order to achieve this, it would be necessary for a woman to be far above average and she added: A man can be a merely average writer but a woman, never!”

Zabel Yesayan (1878–1943) Armenian writer

"Pagavan E : Zabel Yesayan'ın Barış Çağrısını Duyabilmek"] ["Enough! : Being Able to Hear Zabel Yesayan's Call for Peace"] by Melissa Bilal, in Kültür ve Siyasette Feminist Yaklaşımlar [Feminist Approaches in Culture and Politics], Issue 7 (March 2009)

Women , World

“In the same manner as we are cautioned by religion to show our faith by our works we may very properly apply the principle to philosophy, and judge of it by its works; accounting that to be futile which is unproductive, and still more so, if instead of grapes and olives it yield but the thistle and thorns of dispute and contention.”

Francis Bacon book Novum Organum

Aphorism 73
Novum Organum (1620), Book I

Faith , Religion

“Damn it all, you can't have the crown of thorns and the thirty pieces of silver.”

Aneurin Bevan (1897–1960) Welsh politician

On his position in the Labour Party (c. 1956), quoted in Michael Foot, Aneurin Bevan: A Biography, Volume 2 (1973), p. 503
1950s

“"Wuthering" being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather. Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all times, indeed: one may guess the power of the north wind blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house; and by a range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun.”

Emily Brontë book Wuthering Heights

Mr. Lockwood (Ch. I).
Wuthering Heights (1847)

Way , Time , Sun , Housing

“The Government of the fort of Kohram and of Samana was made over by the Sultan to Kutbu-d din… [who] by the aid of his sword of Yemen and dagger of India became established in independent power over the countries of Hind and Sind' He purged by his sword the land of Hind from the filth of infidelity and vice, and freed the whole of that country from the thorn of God-plurality, and the impurity of idol-worship, and by his royal vigour and intrepidity, left not one temple standing”

Hasan Nizami Persian language poet and historian

Kuhram and Samana (Punjab) . Hasan Nizami: Taju’l-Ma’sir, in Elliot and Dowson, Vol. II : Elliot and Dowson, History of India as told by its own Historians, 8 Volumes, Allahabad Reprint, 1964. pp. 216-217 . Also partially quoted in B.R. Ambedkar, Pakistan or The Partition of India (1946)

God , Country

“Hope is like a harebell, trembling from its birth,
Love is like a rose, the joy of all the earth,
Faith is like a lily, lifted high and white,
Love is like a lovely rose, the world’s delight.
Harebells and sweet lilies show a thornless growth,
But the rose with all its thorns excels them both.”

Christina Rossetti (1830–1894) English poet

Hope is like a Harebell; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

Love , World , Faith , Hope

“I fly to Luxembourg on Berlusconi's usual twin engine, who accompanies us, glad to exhibit himself and exhibit his status in an international ceremony. The gold medal (but is it really gold?) is given to me by Gaston Thorn, head of the Luxembourg government. Berlusconi fills his notebook with addresses: of all the V. I. P.'s that he has met. He's a true climber that takes advantage of everything and throws nothing away.”

Indro Montanelli (1909–2001) Italian journalist

Luxembourg, 23 may, from accounts with myself. [citation needed]
2000s - 2010s

Flying

“Though the way of religion has thorns in it with respect to persecution, yet it is full of roses with respect to that inward peace and contentment that the soul finds in it.”

Thomas Watson (1616–1686) English nonconformist preacher and author

From Heaven Taken By Storm, Soli Deo Gloria Publications edition, pg. 73.

Peace , Religion , Way , Soul

“Romantic: one who professes to prefer the thorns to the rose.”

Yahia Lababidi (1973)

Signposts to Elsewhere (2008)

“Sovereign of beauty, like the spray she grows;
Compass'd she is with thorns and canker'd bower.
Yet, were she willing to be pluck'd and worn,
She would be gather'd, though she grew on thorn.”

Robert Greene (dramatist) book Pandosto

Pandosto; Dyce p. 294.

Beauty

“Every noble crown is, and on earth will forever be, a crown of thorns.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

Bk. III, ch. 7.
1840s, Past and Present (1843)

“One does not leave gold untouched, when one discovers the yellow metal in filth. One is ver ready to pick it up. What is intrinsically good will never change no matter where it is found. A diamond is often spotted amidst black blocks of coal. Lotus blossoms in a swamp and the beautiful rose blooms among thorns. In fact the presence of such invaluable wonders enhances the importance of a place no matter how sullied it is!”

Amitabh Bachchan (1942) Indian actor

Source: Soul Curry for You and Me: An Empowering Philosophy that Can Enrich Your Life, P. 21-22.

Beauty , Change

“First
Let the rockets flash and the cannon thunder,
This child is a marvel, a matchless wonder.
A staggering child, a child astounding,
Dazzling, diaperless, dumfounding,
Stupendous, miraculous, unsurpassed,
A child to stagger and flabbergast,
Bright as a button, sharp as a thorn,
And the only perfect one ever born.
Second
Arrived this evening at half-past nine.
Everybody is doing fine.
Is it a boy, or quite the reverse?
You can call in the morning and ask the nurse.”

Ogden Nash (1902–1971) American poet

"First Child . . . Second Child"
Versus (1949)

Boy , Past , Perfection

“How noble and ennobling!—but within
How mean, how poor, how pitiful, how mix'd
With base alloy; how Disappointment tracks
The steps of Hope; how Envy dogs success;
How every victor's crown is lined with thorns,
And worn mid scoffs!”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist

A History of the Lyre
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)

Dogs , Hope , Disappointment , Success

“O! Lover, Enjoyment on the soft body of a lotus is always risky and inconsistent because its route is always surrounded by thorns.”

Manmohan Acharya (1967–2013) Poet, lyricist

Stanza I
Song of the Bumblebee (2008)

Lovers

“Take from my head the thorn-wreath brown!
No mortal grief deserves that crown.
O supreme Love, chief misery,
The sharp regalia are for Thee
Whose days eternally go on!

For us, — whatever's undergone,
Thou knowest, willest what is done,
Grief may be joy misunderstood;
Only the Good discerns the good.
I trust Thee while my days go on.”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) English poet, author

St. 20-21.
De Profundis (1862)

Love , Joy

“Let me first say that there are ongoing legal proceedings, so I am limited in my ability to speak about those issues. But I’m fully aware that there is a tendency in all of us, as a society, to romanticize people and their families, especially when their work is bigger than themselves. At the risk of sounding cliché, you can’t have rainbows without rain, or roses without thorns. It’s unrealistic for people to have great expectations of us and not allow for basic human normalcy. Our conflicts are reflective of our humanity. We are a family like all others and subject to the same struggles and unfortunate consequences with which all God’s people contend.”

Bernice King (1963) American minister, daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Statements during interview with The Root (24 June 2014) http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/06/the_root_interviews_bernice_a_king.html

God , People , Family

“When the priest went in, he stopped short at the sight of this defamation of God's holy place, and dared not serve the requiem on such a spot. And so the church was left forever, with monsters stuck in the doors and windows, was overgrown with forest trees, roots, rough grass and wild thorns, and no one can now find the way to it.”

Nikolai Gogol book Viy

"Viy" (1835)

God , Way , Tree , Grass

“Where was the beauty that the Lord gave man when first he towered in pride?
But one came by me at whose word the bitter condemnation died.
His brows were crowned with thorns of light: his eyes were bright as one who sees
The starry palaces shine o'er the sparkle of the heavenly seas.
'Is it not beautiful?' he cried. Our Faery Land of Hearts' Desire
Is mingled through the mire and mist, yet stainless keeps its lovely fire.
The pearly phantoms with blown hair are dancing where the drunkards reel:
The cloud frail daffodils shine out where filth is splashing from the heel.
O sweet, and sweet, and sweet to hear, the melodies in rivers run:
The rapture of their crowded notes is yet the myriad voice of One.”

George William Russell (1867–1935) Irish writer, editor, critic, poet, and artistic painter

By Still Waters (1906)

Love , Beauty , Light , Heart

“Was he balked by silence? He kneeled long,
And saw love in a dark crown
Of thorns blazing, and a winter tree
Golden with fruit of a man's body.”

R.S. Thomas (1913–2000) Welsh poet

"In a Country Church"
Song at the Year's Turning (1955)

Love , Tree , Silence , Winter

“The thorns he spares when the rose is taken;
The rocks are left when he wastes the plain;
The wind that wanders, the weeds wind-shaken,
These remain.”

Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic

A forsaken Garden.
Undated

“Ye banks and braes o' bonny Doon,
How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair?
How can ye chant, ye little birds,
And I sae weary fu' o' care!
Thou'll break my heart, thou warbling bird,
That wantons thro' the flowering thorn!
Thou minds me o' departed joys,
Departed never to return.”

Robert Burns (1759–1796) Scottish poet and lyricist

The Banks o' Doon, st. 1
Johnson's The Scots Musical Museum (1787-1796)

Flowers , Bird , Heart , Joy

“Truths and roses have thorns about them.”

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist

This is commonly misattributed because Thoreau wrote it in his journal June 14, 1838, but it was not original. This was a popular aphorism in his day, appearing in several collections of proverbs during his lifetime. Its origin is unknown, but it had appeared in print before his birth. E.g., in Joseph Dennie and Asbury Dickins, The Port Folio, vol.2, no.1 (July 1809) http://books.google.com/books?id=YrIRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA431, p. 431; and in Felipe Fernandez, Exercises on the rules of construction of the Spanish language http://books.google.com/books?id=LMIBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA228, 3rd ed. (1811), p. 228.
Misattributed

Truth

“Of all the trees that grow so fair,
Old England to adorn,
Greater are none beneath the Sun,
Than Oak, and Ash, and Thorn.”

Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) English short-story writer, poet, and novelist

A Tree Song,
Puck of Pook's Hill 1906

Tree , Sun

“In Christ we see the strength of achievement, and the strength of endurance. He moved with a calm majesty, like the sun. The bloody sweat, and the crown of thorns, and the cross, were full in His eyes; but He was obedient unto death. In His perfect self-sacrifice, we see the perfection of strength; in the love that prompted it, we see the perfection of beauty. This combination of self-sacrifice and love must be commenced in every Christian; and when it shall be in its spirit complete in him, then will he also be perfect in strength and beauty.”

Mark Hopkins (educator) (1802–1887) American educationalist and theologian

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 61.

Love , Death , Beauty , Sun

“A virgin is like a rose: while she remains on the thorn whence she sprang, alone and safe in a lovely garden, no flock, no shepherd approaches. The gentle breeze and the dewy dawn, water, and earth pay her homage; amorous youths and loving maidens like to deck their brows with her, and their breasts. / But no sooner is she plucked from her mother-stalk, severed from her green stem, than she loses all, all the favour, grace, and beauty wherewith heaven and men endowed her.”

Ludovico Ariosto book Orlando Furioso

La verginella e simile alla rosa
Ch'in bel giardin' su la nativa spina
Mentre sola e sicura si riposa
Ne gregge ne pastor se le avvicina;
L'aura soave e l'alba rugiadosa,
L'acqua, la terra al suo favor s'inchina:
Gioveni vaghi e donne inamorate
Amano averne e seni e tempie ornate.<p>Ma no si tosto dal materno stelo
Rimossa viene, e dal suo ceppo verde
Che quato havea dagli huoi e dal cielo
Favor gratia e bellezza tutto perde.
Canto I, stanzas 42–43 (tr. G. Waldman)
Compare:
Ut flos in saeptis secretus nascitur hortis,
Ignotus pecori, nullo contusus aratro,
Quem mulcent aurae, firmat sol, educat imber;
Multi illum pueri, multae optavere puellae:
idem cum tenui carptus defloruit ungui,
nulli illum pueri, nullae optavere puellae:
sic virgo, dum intacta manet, dum cara suis est;
cum castum amisit polluto corpore florem,
nec pueris iucunda manet, nec cara puellis.
As a flower springs up secretly in a fenced garden, unknown to the cattle, torn up by no plough, which the winds caress, the sun strengthens, the shower draws forth, many boys, many girls, desire it: so a maiden, whilst she remains untouched, so long she is dear to her own; when she has lost her chaste flower with sullied body, she remains neither lovely to boys nor dear to girls.
Catullus, Carmina, LXII (tr. Francis Warre-Cornish)
Orlando Furioso (1532)