Flowers are God’s way of smiling
—Common Proverb
Full many a gem of purest ray serene the dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear: full many a flower is born to blush unseen, and waste its sweetness on the desert air.
—Thomas Gray (1716–71) British Poet, Scholar
The Amen of nature is always a flower.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.
—Walt Whitman (1819–92) American Poet, Essayist, Journalist
Earth laughs in flowers.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light.
—Theodore Roethke (1908–63) American Poet
From the withered tree, a flower blooms.
—Unknown
The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers.
—Matsuo Basho (1644–94) Japanese Poet
If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.
—Buddhist Teaching
To create a little flower is the labor of ages.
—William Blake (1757–1827) English Poet, Painter, Printmaker
The lotus flower is troubled
At the sun’s resplendent light;
With sunken head and sadly
She dreamily waits for the night.
—Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) German Poet, Writer
Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.
—Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) Austrian Poet
Flowers leave their fragrance on the hand that bestows them.
—Chinese Proverb
Flowers always make people better, happier and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine to the soul.
—Luther Burbank (1849–1926) American Botanist, Scientist
I wonder what spendthrift chose to spill
Such a bright gold under my windowsill!
Is it fair gold? Does it glitter still?
Bless me! It’s a daffodil!
—Celia Thaxter (1835–94) American Poet, Writer
Flowers are without hope. Because hope is tomorrow and flowers have no tomorrow.
—Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Poet
God gives us dreams a size too big so that we can grow in them.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
God has sown his name on the heavens in glittering stars; but on earth he planteth his name by tender flowers.
—Jean Paul (1763–1825) German Novelist, Philosopher
Fair flowers are not left standing along the wayside long.
—German Proverb
I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.
—Claude Monet (1840–1926) French Impressionist painter
I’d rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck.
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940) Lithuanian-American Anarchist, Feminist
The fairest thing in nature, a flower, still has its roots in earth and manure.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Critic
Every flower is a soul blossoming in Nature.
—Gerard de Nerval (1808–55) French Poet, Essayist, Critic
When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.
—Chinese Proverb
When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not.
—Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) American Painter
Flowers are restful to look at. They have neither emotions nor conflicts.
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychoanalytic
Roses fall, but the thorns remain.
—Dutch Proverb
The flower that smells the sweetest is shy and lowly.
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850) English Poet
Can we conceive what humanity would be if it did not know the flowers?
—Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949) Belgian Poet, Playwright, Essayist
Flowers that are so pathetic in their beauty, frail as the clouds, and in their coloring as gorgeous as the heavens, had through thousands of years been the heritage of children—honored as the jewelry of God only by them—when suddenly the voice of Christianity, counter-signing the voice of infancy, raised them to a grandeur transcending the Hebrew throne, although founded by God himself, and pronounced Solomon in all his glory not to be arrayed like one of these.
—Thomas de Quincey (1785–1859) English Essayist, Critic
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