100 Best Rose Quotes for Love and Life, Thorns and All!

No more be grieved at that which thou hast done:
Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud;
Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun,
And loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud.
~ William Shakespeare, Sonnet 35

The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
For that sweet odour which doth in it live.
~ William Shakespeare, Sonnet 54

For women are as roses, whose fair flower
Being once display’d doth fall that very hour.
~ William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night

At Christmas I no more desire a rose
Than wish a snow in May’s new-fangled mirth;
But like of each thing that in season grows.
~ William Shakespeare, Love’s Labours Lost

Earthlier happy is the rose distilled
Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn,
Grows, lives, and dies, in single blessedness.
~ William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
~ William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

From fairest creatures we desire increase
That thereby beauty’s rose might never die.
~ William Shakespeare, Sonnet 1

Of all flowers
Methinks a rose is best.
~ William Shakespeare, Two Noble Kinsmen

O rose of May. Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Their lips were four red roses on a stalk.
~ William Shakespeare, Richard III

Which leads right into our next section on quotes about red roses!

And you’ll find more words from William on this page of March quotes.

Red Rose Quotes

Red roses signify romantic love, and are the classic way to express “I love you” to your partner.

You’ll find more quotes to express your love in the following section, Rose quotes about love. And there are more sayings about red roses in other sections too!

O, my love is like a red, red rose.
~ Robert Burns

Her lips like a dew on a red rose. Her eyes like a rainbow. In every drop of rain walking goddess glistened like a diamond.
~ Kshanasurya

Love and a red rose can’t be hid.
~ Thomas Holcroft

And the marvellous rose became crimson, like the rose of the eastern sky. Crimson was the girdle of petals, and crimson as a ruby was the heart.
~ Oscar Wilde

Roses are red, violets are blue.
The best part of my life is you.
~ Unknown

I see trees of green, red roses too.
I see them bloom for me and you.
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world.
~ Louis Armstrong

Roses are red, violets are blue,
And I’ll never ever, ever stop loving you.
~ Unknown

Oh, my luve’s like a red, red rose, that’s newly sprung in June; Oh, my luve’s like the melody, that’s sweetly played in tune.
~ Robert Burns

Red roses for young lovers. French beans for longstanding relationships
~ Ruskin Bond

The red rose whispers of passion
And the white rose breathes of love,
O, the red rose is a falcon,
And the white rose is a dove.
~ John Boyle O’Reilly

Roses are red, violets are blue,
I’ll never love someone the way I love you.
~ Anonymous

You’ll find a rainbow of sayings in these colorful quotes.

Rose Quotes for Love

Inspiration for your gifts of roses!

Give her two red roses, each with a note. The first note says For the woman I love and the second, For my best friend.
~ Saint Augustine

I’ll fly you on a cloud of rose petals just to let you feel how soft your love makes me feel.
~ Pankhania

She is lovelier than all the roses in the world.
~ Avijeet Das

A woman is like a rose… If you take good care of her, you will see love blossom.
~ Anonymous

The rose speaks of love silently in a language known only to the heart.
~ Unknown

There may be many flowers in one’s life… but only one rose.
~ Anonymous

If I had a rose for every time I thought of you, I’d be picking roses for a lifetime.
~ Swedish Proverb

You’ll find more quotes about love in these Taylor Swift quotes.

Or scroll on for more rosy sayings…

True love is like little roses, sweet, fragrant in small doses.
~ Ana Claudia Antunes

In the garden of thy heart, plant naught but the rose of love.
~ Bahá’u’lláh

When love came first to earth, the Spring spread rose beds to receive him.
~ Thomas Campbell

When the night has been too lonely,
And the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only
For the lucky and the strong,
just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed that with the sun’s love
In the spring becomes the rose.
~ Bette Midler

This love is the rose that blooms forever.
~ Rumi

My love is like a rose divided into two, the leaves I give to others, but the rose I give to you.
~ Anonymous

Don’t forget yourself! Check out these self love quotes for Instagram.

Short Rose Quotes

I love short quotes for adding to images! Copy and paste into these apps to add text to photos.

And they also make ideal Instagram captions for rose pictures.

The world is a rose, smell it, and pass it to your friends.
~ Persian Proverb

One rose says more than the dozen.
~ Wendy Craig

Love planted a rose, and the world turned sweet.
~ Katharine Lee Bates.

Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.
~ Gertrude Stein

Gather the rose of love whilst yet is time.
~ Edmund Spenser

World without poetry is like a lover without a rose.
~ Shiny

Inspire your inner artist with these art quotes.

Or keep going for more quotes about roses…

This image ©PositivelyPresent is used with permission.

No rose without a thorn.
~ French Proverb

And she was fair as is the rose in May.
~ Geoffrey Chaucer

A rose is honored for its beauty, not its size.
~ Matshona Dhliwayo

What a lovely thing a rose is!
~ Arthur Conan Doyle

Take time to smell the roses.
~ Proverb

My life is part humor, part roses, part thorns.
~ Bret Michaels

A relationship is like a rose. How long it lasts, no one knows.
~ Rob Cella

Wild roses are fairest, and nature a better gardener than art.
~ Louisa May Alcott

Beauty without virtue is like a rose without scent.
~ Anonymous

I’ve also got more enchanting short flower quotes.

Roses with Thorns Quotes

Even the queen of flowers has thorns! Take a new view of the negative with these thorn quotes.

The more you love roses the more you must bear with thorns.
~ Matshona Dhliwayo

Friends are the roses of life. Pick them carefully and avoid the thorns!
~ Unknown

Where there are no thorns there are no roses.
~ Matshona Dhliwayo

Think of your pain like a bunch of red roses, a beautiful thorn necklace. Everyone has one.
~ Francesca Lia Block

Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses.
~ Alphonse Karr

The mind is a red rose with thorns. Don’t get too close.
~ Bert McCoy

There is no rose without a thorn.
~ Shelby Mahurin

You might also enjoy these love for nature quotes.

I have brought you the rose of love, and you have crowned me, in these dark hours, with their thorns.
~ Sir Kristian Goldmund Aumann

But he who dares not grasp the thorn
Should never crave the rose.
~ Anne Bronte

If all we had were roses, would the thorns then be beautiful?
~ Kamand Kojouri

The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose.
~ Kahlil Gibran

A thorn defends the rose, harming only those who would steal the blossom.
~ Chinese Proverb

We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.
~ Abraham Lincoln

More wise words in these Abraham Lincoln quotes.

I was too busy admiring the petals that I forgot about the thorns.
~ Orion Carloto

If you enjoy the fragrance of a rose, you must accept the thorns which it bears.
~ Isaac Hayes

A rose’s rarest essence lives in the thorn.
~ Rumi

She who loves roses must be patient and not cry out when she is pierced by thorns.
~ Olga Broumas

Love speaks in flowers. Truth requires thorns.
~ Leigh Bardugo, The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic

The most pretty little things have lethal thorns.
~ Efrat Cybulkiewicz

Truths and roses have thorns about them.
~ Henry David Thoreau

Every rose has its thorn. Just like every night has its dawn.
~ Poison

And he repents in thorns that sleeps in beds of roses.
~ Francis Quarles

The sharp thorn often produces delicate roses.
~ Ovid

Get some good vibes going with these positive quotes.

Pink Rose Quotes

I could only find two! Do you know of any others?

A profusion of pink roses bending ragged in the rain speaks to me of all gentleness and its enduring.
~ William Carlos Williams

The rose is the flower of love. The world has acclaimed it for centuries. Pink roses are for love hopeful and expectant. White roses are for love dead or forsaken, but the red roses, ah the red roses are for love triumphant.
~ Unknown

Funny Rose Quotes

Enjoy!

Keep calm and buy me roses.
~ Unknown

Won’t you come into the garden? I would like my roses to see you.
~ Richard Brinsley Sheridan

You’d get a lot more work done if you didn’t stop and smell the roses so often!
~ Unknown

It matters not
what goal you seek,
its secret here reposes
You’ve got to dig
from week to week
to get Results or Roses.
~Edgar Guest

Life without roses? … I don’t think so!
~ Unknown

And if you voz to see my roziz
As is a boon to all men’s noziz,
You’d fall upon your back and scream
“O Lawk! O criky! it’s a dream!”
~ Edward Lear

If you really screw up, send roses.
~ Letitia Baldrige

Sign at the Flower Shop: “Do you have a rose by any other name?”
~ Unknown

You love roses, but you cut them. You love animals, but you eat them. You tell me you love me, so now I’m scared!
~ Unknown

This old world that we’re livin’ in
Is might hard to beat.
You get a thorn with every Rose
But – ain’t the roses sweet?
~ Frank Stanton

Roses are red, violets are blue,
I’m schizophrenic, and so am I.
~ Unknown

You might also like these funny Facebook status updates!

More Rose Quotes for Her

Yet more, because there’s always something to say about roses! The art directly above was inspired by the poem quoted below.

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may…
~ Robert Herrick

We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.
~ Dale Carnegie

If the rose is beautiful flower, it is also because it opens itself.
~ Charles De Leusse

A rose in a desert can only survive on its strength, not its beauty.
~ Matshona Dhliwayo

I’d rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck.
~ Emma Goldman

Roses do not bloom hurriedly; for beauty, like any masterpiece, takes time to blossom.
~ Matshona Dhliwayo

In a world full of roses, stand out like a dandelion in the middle of a green, plush lawn!
~ June Stoyer

Smell the roses. Smell the coffee. Whatever it is that makes you happy.
~ Rita Moreno

You can’t have a pain-free life. It can’t all be roses and unicorns.
~ Mark Manson

Get inspired with these motivational quotes.

Take time to smell the roses. Appreciating the little things in life really can make all the difference.
~ Andy Puddicombe

God gave us our memories so that we might have roses in December.
~ J. M. Barrie

The rose is fairest when ’tis budding new,
And hope is brightest when it dawns from fears.
~ Sir Walter Scott

Do not watch the petals fall from the rose with sadness, know that, like life, things sometimes must fade, before they can bloom again.
~ Unknown

There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold.
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

Conclusion

If you loved my collection of quotes about roses, tell a friend! Save an image to Pinterest, or share a link on Facebook.

So you never run out of the right words, check out the best quote sites for sayings that fit every season and reason!

Rose Quotes from Shakespeare