Every rose has its thorn

Posted by Smokey Stover on February 03, 2009 at 22:44

In Reply to: Every rose has its thorn posted by ESC on February 01, 2009 at 15:38:

: : : : Does somebody know where was this saying "Every rose has it's thorn" derived from and what does it mean?

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: : : For starters, here's a gardening reference! - albeit one having a bit of trouble with accented characters in foreign languages. Most of it copied below:

: : : "Every rose has its thorn" is a famous proverb generally used to teach an important fact about human nature-nobody is perfect. Even the rose, beautiful and enticing, is not without its flaws; the prickly thorns of the rose can poke and pierce the flesh. In fact, there is a type of plant in the Rose family, Hawthorn, whose thorns are toxic to the eye, and scratching of the cornea with it often leads to loss of vision. Even something as beautiful as a rose has its flaws.

: : : Alternatively, "Every rose has its thorn" can be understood to speak of life situations, teaching the valuable life lesson that even the best situations have their down-sides. It follows, therefore, that even the bad situations have their positive sides.

: : : ORIGINS

: : : The famous proverb "Every rose has its thorn" is believed to have originated either as a Dutch, French or Italian proverb. In French, the saying goes "Pas de rose sans épine". In Italian it is "Non c'è rosa senza spine."

: : : A similar proverb, believed to be from Persia, says "He who wants a rose must respect the thorn". Here too the idea of imperfection is expressed, teaching that one can only have a loving relationship with another after respecting that individual's differences and flaws. The Greeks have a different proverb that also uses the symbolism of a rose and expresses a similar meaning to "Every rose has its thorn". "From a thorn comes a rose, and from a rose comes a thorn" teaches that something that begins as an imperfection or flaw can grow to be as beautiful as a rose. So too something as stunning as a rose is also not perfect, for within, there are also flaws. This proverb also speaks of the cycle of life, from life to death, death to life.

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: No rose without a thorn - "Cf. Claudian 'In Nupitas Honorii.Fescennia iv. 20 Armat spina rosas, mella tegunt apes,' a thorn arms roses, bees conceal their honey. 1430-40 Lydgate Bochas Prol. Ix There is no rose.in garden, but there be sum thorne.1670 J. Ray 'English Proverbs' 138 No rose without a thorn." "Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs" by John Simpson and Jennifer Speake (Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York, Third Edition, 1998). Page 233.

It's sometimes a guesing game how an effort to type diacritical marks will come out in someone else's word processor. I believe the Franch proverb is "Pas de rose sans épine." and in Italian, "Non c'é rosa senza spine." Since "spine" is a plural, the adage translates, "There's no rose without thorns." Of course, that's no longer true, since they have successfully bred a thornless rose.
SS