59 Famous Rose Quotes (from famous authors & iconic quotes)

The Best Famous Rose Quotes

Roses are the timeless symbols of love and beauty.

Over the years, they have inspired words of wisdom from some of the world’s most celebrated authors. After all, roses were already talked about in ancient Greek mythology.

It can be rose quotes from famous authors, or simply be such an iconic quote from an unknown author that it found its place in this selection.

Find below the best famous rose quotes:

1. “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” William Shakespeare
2. “The rose is a 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.”
3. 

   Love is much like a wild rose, beautiful and calm, but willing to draw blood in its defense.

   — Mark Overby
4. “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
5. “A thorn defends the rose, harming only those who would steal the blossom.” Chinese Proverb

1. “The rose is the flower and handmaiden of love – the lily, her fair associate, is the emblem of beauty and purity.” Dorothea Dix
2. “A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world.” Leo Buscaglia
3. “A rose must remain with the sun and the rain or its lovely promise won’t come true.” Ray Evans
4. 

   The rose is the poetry of the earth, the delight of the garden.

   — Honore de Balzac
5. “I am not a great artist, I am only a man who paints roses.” Pierre-Auguste Renoir
6. “A rose is a rose is a rose.” Gertrude Stein
7. “The rose is the queen of flowers.” Gregory Nunn

There you have it, my favorite quotes of the bunch!

These famous rose quotes are like petals, each carrying the fragrance of wisdom and the beauty of expression.

I hope the words of these esteemed authors can get through you, and help you truly express the beauty of roses.

Funny Famous Roses Quotes

Ready to smile a little?

Let’s lighten the mood the with these humorous quotes from renowned authors.

Read all the funny famous roses quotes:

1. “I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalog: ‘No good in a bed, but fine up against a wall.'” Eleanor Roosevelt
2. “My love is like a rose, ask not for whom it grows.”
3. 

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

   — Oscar Levant
4. “A rose by any other name would still have thorns, and it would still make you bleed if you’re not careful.” Matshona Dhliwayo

1. “I’d rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck, but I wouldn’t say no to diamonds.” Emma Goldman
2. “Our love is like a red, red rose... and I am a little thorny.” Jim Carrey
3. 

   Why are roses so expensive? Because ‘shut up and take my money’ doesn’t work at the flower shop.

4. “Publishing a volume of verse is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.” Don Marquis
5. “She said that she would dance with me if I brought her red roses but in all my garden there is no red rose.” Oscar Wilde

Whether they come from a famous author or not, these quotes are pretty popular and I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve heard them before.

They add a touch of fun to the world of roses, and each of these is the perfect fit for a funny caption on your rose pictures!

Even More Famous Quotes About Roses

And finally we get to the last category, where you’ll find all of the remaining famous quotes, roses themed.

We’ll delve deeper into the poetic world of roses with more than 30 quotes, each capturing a unique side of roses and their meaning.

The main theme is unsurprisingly love quotes about roses – but you’ll also find quotes about strength, friendship, and more.

Get all the famous quotes about roses:

1. “The rose speaks of love silently, in a language known only to the heart.”
2. “What a lovely thing a rose is!” Arthur Conan Doyle
3. “I must have flowers, always and always.” Claude Monet
4. 

   Love and a red rose can’t be hid.

   — Thomas Holcroft
5. “The rose is the emblem of the eternal, it confers beauty and love; it is the crest of the wave, the morning star, the bird of dawn’s twilight.” Matshona Dhliwayo
6. “A rose is the visible result of an infinitude of complicated goings on in the bosom of the earth and in the air above.” Clive Bell

1. “Love is like a beautiful flower which I may not touch, but whose fragrance makes the garden a place of delight just the same.” Helen Keller
2. “A white rose can only be a white rose; it can’t be red or yellow. White roses represent purity, cleanliness, and innocence.” Tionne Watkins
3. “She wore a white rose in her hair, as if she were a bride for all those who looked at her and loved her and created her in their minds.” Tim O’Brien
4. “The pink roses are love hopeful and expectant.” Lucy Maud Montgomery
5. 

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

   — Dale Carnegie
6. “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
7. “A red, red rose, all wet with dew, With leaves of green by red shot through.” E. Nesbit

1. “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
2. “Their lips were four red roses on a stalk.” William Shakespeare

Read more: a short compilation of quotes about rose buds

1. “Oh my love’s like a red, red rose,
   That’s newly sprung in June;
   Oh my love’s like the melody
   That’s sweetly played in tune.” Robert Burns
2. “Think of your pain like a bunch of red roses, a beautiful thorn necklace. Everyone has one.” Francesca Lia Block
3. “A red rose is not selfish because it wants to be a red rose. It would be horribly selfish if it wanted all the other flowers in the garden to be both red and roses.” Oscar Wilde
4. “I don’t know whether nice people tend to grow roses or growing roses makes people nice.” Roland A. Browne.

1. “Won’t you come into the garden? I would like my roses to see you.” Richard Brinsley Sheridan
2. “Footfalls echo in the memory, down the passage we did not take, towards the door we never opened, into the rose garden.” T. S. Eliot
3. “I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden. Along with sunshine, there’s got to be a little rain sometime.” Lynn Anderson
4. 

   People where you live grow five thousand roses in one garden...yet they don’t find what they are looking for.

   — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
5. “You know, maybe I was just born in the wrong time, but I love all things romantic. Puffy understands that. For my last birthday, he covered my hotel room floor with rose petals and had flowers and candles all over the room.” Jennifer Lopez
6. “The rose petal floats on water. The kingfisher flashes above the pond. Life and beauty swirl in the midst of death.” Robert Jordan
7. “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
8. “Whenever the world throws rose petals at you, which thrill and seduce the ego, beware.” Anne Lamott

1. “Friendship is like a rose... opening one petal at a time, only as it unfolds... day by day it reveals its true beauty.” Joan Walsh Anglund
2. 

   We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorns have roses.

   — Alphonse Karr
3. “My tears are like the quiet drift of petals from some magic rose; and all my grief flows from the rift of unremembered skies and snows. I think that if I touched the earth, it would crumble; it is so sad and beautiful, so tremulously like a dream.” Dylan Thomas
4. “I’d rather let you cover all my roads with thorns than with dead roses.” Nema Al-Araby
5. “If you enjoy the fragrance of a rose, you must accept the thorns which it bears.” Isaac Hayes

1. “The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose.” Khalil Gibran
2. “The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem for that sweet odor which doth in it live.” William Shakespeare
3. 

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

   — Isaac Hayes
4. “The rose is the flower and handmaiden of love – the lily, her fair associate, is the emblem of beauty and purity. Hence, you see, they are the two most important flowers in the world.” Arthur J. Marsh
5. “A rose’s rarest essence lives in the thorn.” Rumi
6. “Love planted a rose, and the world turned sweet.” Katharine Lee Bates

Oh that’s already the end of our famous rose quotes!

I hope you found inspiration in these famous words, and that you enjoyed reading them all.

By the way, what was your favorite quote of them all? Let me know in the comments below and tell me why you loved it!

My personal favorite is #44 “People where you live grow five thousand roses in one garden...yet they don’t find what they are looking for.” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, in The Little Prince.

I loved this book when I was a kid, and finding this quote again made me go all the way back to childhood. I don’t think I really understood the power of these words as I read them in my youth, but it definitely hit me now!