Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies, for example.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
Perfumes are the feelings of flowers.
—Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) German Poet, Writer
Fair flowers are not left standing along the wayside long.
—German Proverb
Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light.
—Theodore Roethke (1908–63) American Poet
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
By plucking her petals, you do not gather the beauty of the flower.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali Poet, Polymath
Today as in the time of Pliny and Columella, the hyacinth flourishes in Wales, the periwinkle in Illyria, the daisy on the ruins of Numantia; while around them cities have changed their masters and their names, collided and smashed, disappeared into nothingness, their peaceful generations have crossed down the ages as fresh and smiling as on the days of battle.
—Edgar Quinet (1803–75) French Historian, Poet
A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.
—Walt Whitman (1819–92) American Poet, Essayist, Journalist, American, Poet, Essayist, Journalist
Where flowers bloom so does hope.
—Lady Bird Johnson (1912–2007) First Lady of the United States, Conservationist
If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.
—Buddhist Teaching
Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
Flowers are restful to look at. They have neither emotions nor conflicts.
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychoanalytic
The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers.
—Matsuo Basho (1644–94) Japanese Poet
The flower is the poetry of reproduction. It is an example of the eternal seductiveness of life.
—Jean Giraudoux (1882–1944) French Novelist, Playwright, Essayist
Lovely flowers are the smiles of God’s goodness.
—William Wilberforce (1759–1833) English Philanthropist, Reformer
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
Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed.
—Walt Whitman (1819–92) American Poet, Essayist, Journalist, American, Poet, Essayist, Journalist
I hate flowers—I paint them because they’re cheaper than models and they don’t move.
—Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) American Painter
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
From the withered tree, a flower blooms.
—Zen Proverb Japanese School of Mahayana Buddhism
I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.
—Claude Monet (1840–1926) French Impressionist painter
Flowers are without hope. Because hope is tomorrow and flowers have no tomorrow.
—Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Poet
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
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, Humorist
You like buttercups, dewy sweet,
And crocuses, framed in snow;
I like roses, born of the heat,
And the red carnation’s glow.
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919) American Poet, Journalist
A young bride is like a plucked flower; but a guilty wife is like a flower that had been walked over.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
Every flower is a soul blossoming in Nature.
—Gerard de Nerval (1808–55) French Poet, Essayist, Critic
Can we conceive what humanity would be if it did not know the flowers?
—Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949) Belgian Poet, Playwright, Essayist
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) English Poet, Book Collector
How the universal heart of man blesses flowers!—They are wreathed round the cradle, the marriage altar, and the tomb.—They should deck the brow of the youthful bride, for they are in themselves a lovely type of marriage.—They should twine round the tomb, for their perpetually renewed beauty is a symbol of the resurrection.—They should festoon the altar, for their fragrance and beauty ascend in perpetual worship before the most high.
—Lydia Maria Child (1802–80) American Abolitionist, Writer
All the flowers of tomorrow are in the seeds of yesterday
—Common Proverb
Flowers are as common in the country as people are in London.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
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, Literary Critic
From the withered tree, a flower blooms.
—Unknown
To create a little flower is the labor of ages.
—William Blake (1757–1827) English Poet, Painter, Printmaker
I’d rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck.
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940) Lithuanian-American Anarchist, Feminist
What a pity flowers can utter no sound?—A singing rose, a whispering violet, a murmuring honeysuckle,—oh, what a rare and exquisite miracle would these be!
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
To me the meanest flower that blows can give thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850) English Poet
The flower that smells the sweetest is shy and lowly.
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850) English Poet
He does not care for flowers. Calls them rubbish, and cannot tell one from another, and thinks it is superior to feel like that.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Flowers have spoken to me more than I can tell in written words. They are the hieroglyphics of angels, loved by all men for the beauty of the character, though few can decipher even fragments of their meaning.
—Lydia Maria Child (1802–80) American Abolitionist, Writer
Teach me, Father, how to go
Softly as the grasses grow;
Hush my soul to meet the shock
Of the wild world as a rock;
But my spirit, propt with power,
Make as simple as a flower.
Let the dry heart fill its cup,
Like a poppy looking up;
Let life lightly wear her crown,
Like a poppy looking down,
When its heart is filled with dew,
And its life begins anew.
—Edwin Markham (1852–1940) American Poet, Educator
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 God’s way of smiling
—Common Proverb
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
The poet’s darling.
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850) English Poet
Stars of earth, these golden flowers; emblems of our own great resurrection; emblems of the bright and better land.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
Flowers are happy things.
—P. G. Wodehouse (1881–1975) British Novelist, Short-story Writer, Playwright
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
Flowers… are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty out-values all the utilities of the world.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher