Briars Quotes

• And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds and binding with briars my joys and desires. (from 'The Garden of Love')

  William Blake

  Garden, Joy, Black

  William Blake (2005). “Collected Poems”, p.75, Routledge

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• Love is like the wild rose-briar; Friendship like the holly-tree. The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms, but which will bloom most constantly?

  Emily Bronte

  Love, Inspirational, Friendship

  Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, Anne Bronte (2014). “Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell”, p.195, The Floating Press

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• Is your cucumber bitter? Throw it away. Are there briars in your path? Turn aside. That is enough. Do not go on and ay, 'Why were things of this sort ever brought into the world?'

  Marcus Aurelius

  Goes On, World, Cucumbers

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• WEEDS AND NETTLES, BRIARS AND THORNS, HAVE THRIVEN UNDER YOUR SHADOW, DISSETTLEMENT AND DIVISION, DISCONTENTMENT AND DISSATISFACTION, TOGETHER WITH REAL DANGERS TO THE WHOLE.

  Oliver Cromwell

  Weed, Real, Shadow

  Oliver Cromwell (1860). “Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches: Including the Supplement to the First Edition with Elucidations”, p.142

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• I went to the Garden of Love, And saw what I never had seen: A Chapel was built in the midst, Where I used to play on the green. And the gates of this Chapel were shut, And 'Thou shalt not' writ over the door; So I turn'd to the Garden of Love, That so many sweet flowers bore. And I saw it was filled with graves, And tomb-stones where flowers should be: And Priests in black gowns, were walking their rounds, And binding with briars, my joys & desires.

  William Blake

  Sweet, Flower, Garden

  William Blake (2008). “The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake”, p.26, Univ of California Press

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• Funny how "question" contains the word "quest" inside it, as though any small question asked is a journey through briars.

  Catherynne M. Valente

  Journey, Quests, Questions Asked

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• This is enough. Do not add, And why were such things made in the world?

  Marcus Aurelius

  Choices, Add, World

  Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Annaeus Seneca (2016). “Stoic Six Pack: Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, Golden Sayings, Fragments and Discourses of Epictetus, Letters from a Stoic and The Enchiridion”, p.93, Enhanced Media Publishing

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• Is your cucumber bitter? Throw it away. Are there briars in your path? Turn aside. That is enough. Do not go on and say, "Why were things of this sort ever brought into this world?" neither intolerable nor everlasting - if thou bearest in mind that it has its limits, and if thou addest nothing to it in imagination. Pain is either an evil to the body (then let the body say what it thinks of it!)-or to the soul. But it is in the power of the soul to maintain its own serenity and tranquility. . . .

  Marcus Aurelius

  Pain, Attitude, Thinking

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• Perseverance gives power to weakness, and opens to poverty the world's wealth. It spreads fertility over the barren landscape, and buds the choicest flowers and fruits spring up and flourish in the desert abode of thorns and briars.

  Samuel Griswold Goodrich

  Perseverance, Spring, Flower

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• We are all making a crown for Jesus out of these daily lives of ours, either a crown of golden, divine love, studded with gems of sacrifice and adoration, or a thorny crown, filled with the cruel briars of unbelief, or selfishness, and sin.

  Aimee Semple McPherson

  Jesus, Selfish, Sacrifice

  Aimee Semple McPherson (2009). “This is That: Personal Experiences Sermons and Writings of Aimee Semple McPherson”, p.573, Wipf and Stock Publishers

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• The land of literature is a fairy land to those who view it at a distance, but, like all other landscapes, the charm fades on a nearer approach, and the thorns and briars become visible.

  Washington Irving

  Distance, Book, Reading

  Washington Irving (1865). “Works: Complete in 27 Volumes. Tales of a traveller”, p.188

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• Mr. Lely, I desire you would use all your skill to paint my picture truly like me, and not flatter me at all; but remark all these roughnesses, pimples, warts, and everything as you see me, otherwise I will never pay a farthing for it.

  Oliver Cromwell

  War, Skills, Desire

  Quoted in HoraceWalpole, Anecdotes of Painting in England (1763). Usually misquoted as "warts and all."

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• I'm glad I want everything in the world - good and bad - bitter and sweet - I want it all.

  Georgia O'Keeffe

  Sweet, Desire, World

  Georgia O'Keeffe, Anita Pollitzer (1990). “Lovingly, Georgia: The Complete Correspondence of Georgia O'Keeffe and Anita Pollitzer”, Touchstone Books

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• Please don't throw me in dat briar patch!

  Joel Chandler Harris

  Patches, Please

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• Love is like the wild rose-briar; Friendship like the holly-tree. The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms, But which will bloom most constantly? The wild rose-briar is sweet in spring ,Its summer blossoms scent the air; Yet wait till winter comes again, And who will call the wild-briar fair? Then, scorn the silly rose-wreath now, And deck thee with holly's sheen, That, when December blights thy brow, He still may leave thy garland green.

  Emily Dickinson

  Summer, Sweet, Spring

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• That nervous energy that makes people like you and I want and go after everything in the world - bump our heads on all the hard walls and scratch our hands on all the briars - but it makes living great - doesn't it - I'm glad I want everything in the world - good and bad - bitter and sweet - I want it all and a lot of it too

  Georgia O'Keeffe

  Sweet, Wall, Ambition

  Georgia O'Keeffe, Anita Pollitzer (1990). “Lovingly, Georgia: The Complete Correspondence of Georgia O'Keeffe and Anita Pollitzer”, Touchstone Books

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• Just like Love is yonder rose,
  Heavenly fragrance round it throws,
  Yet tears its dewy leaves disclose,
  And in the midst of briars it blows
  Just like Love.

  Percy Smythe, 6th Viscount Strangford

  Life, Blow, Love Is

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• And all the woods are alive with the murmur and sound of Spring,
  And the rose-bud breaks into pink on the climbing briar,
  And the crocus-bed is a quivering moon of fire
  Girdled round with the belt of an amethyst ring.

  Oscar Wilde

  Spring, Moon, Fire

  Oscar Wilde (2014). “Poems”, p.37, Simon and Schuster

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• A mist. A great mist. It covered the entire kingdom. And everyone in it - the good people and the not so good, the young people and the not-so-young, and even Briar Rose's mother and father fell asleep. Everyone slept: lords and ladies, teacher and tummlers, dogs and doves, rabbits and rabbitzen and all kinds of citizens. So fast asleep they were, they were not able to wake up for a hundred years.

  Jane Yolen

  Mother, Teacher, Dog

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• At last Niko dropped his hands, and opened his eyes. His perfect tree illusion solidified and settled. "Very nice," said Briar with approval. "Couldn't have done better myself" "Couldn't do it at all yourself," muttered Tris. Briar ignored her. "But you'd never find a cork oak in these parts. Too cold." Niko looked down his nose at the boy. "I beg your pardon?" Briar shrugged. "Just thought I'd mention it." Niko glared.

  Tamora Pierce

  Nice, Eye, Boys

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• Oh no! Don't drag us away from Antartica and take us to the playground of the rich and famous! Not that briar patch! -Max

  James Patterson

  Max, Rich, Patches

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• Preserve me from such cordiality! It is like handling briar-roses and may-blossoms - bright enough to the eye, and outwardly soft to the touch, but you know there are thorns beneath, and every now and then you feel them too; and perhaps resent the injury by crushing them in till you have destroyed their power, though somewhat to the detriment of your own fingers.

  Anne Bronte

  Crush, Eye, Rose

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• Briar: "So I guess I was the last to know." Rosethorn: "Of course you are. You're a man, aren't you?

  Tamora Pierce

  Men, Lasts, Courses

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• He doesn't need my help coming up with pranks. He's got too many ideas of his own. - Daja referring to Briar in their first year at Discipline cottage

  Tamora Pierce

  Years, Ideas, Discipline

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• Evvy: "Is she going to eat Jooba-hooba? She looks like she's going to bite him, at least." Briar: "No — if she bit him, he'd die.

  Tamora Pierce

  Looks, Bites, Dies

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