The fairest flowers o’ the season
Are our carnations and streaked gillyvors,
Which some call nature’s bastards. William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale IV iii 81
Here’s flowers for you;
Hot lavender, mints, savoury, marjoram;
The marigold, that goes to bed wi’ the sun,
And with him rises weeping. ibid. IV iii 103
O Proserpina!
For the flowers now that frighted thou let’st fall
From Dis’s waggon! daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty. ibid. IV iii 11
52,496. Pale prim-roses,
That die unmarried, ere thy can behold
Bright Pheobus in his strength, – a malady
Most incident to maids; bold oxlips and
The crown imperial; lilies of all kinds,
The flower-de-luce being one. ibid. IV iii 122
Here’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance; pray, love, remember: and there is pansies, that’s for thoughts ... There’s fennel for you, and columbines; there’s rue for you; and here’s some for me; we may call it herb of grace o’ Sundays. O! you must wear your rue with a difference. There’s a daisy; I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died. They say he made a good end ... William Shakespeare, Hamlet IV v @174
There with fantastic garlands did she come,
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men’s fingers call them. ibid. IV vii 169
Away before me to sweet beds of flowers,
Love-thoughts lie rich when canopied with flowers. William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night I i 39-40, Orsino
… look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under’t. William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Macbeth I v 64-65, Lady Macbeth
Keep the Aspidistra Flying. George Orwell, 1936
There are always flowers for those who want to see them. Henri Matisse
Flowers are restful to look at. They have neither emotions nor conflicts. Sigmund Freud
Weeds are flowers too once you get to know them. A A Milne
Don’t send me flowers when I’m dead. If you like me, send them while I’m alive. Brian Clough
At my age flowers scare me. George Burns
A flower blossoms for its own joy. Oscar Wilde
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower. William Cowper, Olney hymns, ‘Light Shining Out of Darkness’, June 1778
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen
And waste its sweetness on the desert air. Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, 1751
Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits. Samuel Butler
One thing is certain, and the rest is lies;
The flower that once hath blown for ever dies. Edward Fitzgerald, The Rubdiyat of Omar Khayyam
The next morning, when Thomasin withdrew the curtains of her bedroom window, there stood the Maypole in the middle of the greek, its top cutting into the sky. It had sprung up in the night, or rather early morning, like Jack’s bean-stalk. She opened the casement to get a better view of the garlands and posies that adored it. The sweet perfume of the flowers had already spread into the surrounding air, which being free from every taint, conducted to her lips a full measure of the fragrance received from the spire of blossom in its midst. At the top of the pole were crossed hoops decked with small flowers; beneath these came a milk-white zone of Maybloom; then a zone of bluebells, then of cowslips, then of lilacs, then of ragged-rosins, daffodils and so on, till the lowest stage was reached. Thomasin noticed all these, and was delighted that the May revel was to be so near. Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native
A delicate balance must be struck between providing too much nectar (no visit to a second flower) and too little (no incentive to visit the first flower). Richard Dawkins, The Greatest Show on Earth p53
Some of the most astonishing orchids that practise this seduction trick are to be found in Western Australia. Various species in the genus Drakaea are known as hammer orchids. Each species has a special relationship with a particular species of wasp of the type called thynnids. ibid. p78
Many Japanese people are obsessed with flower arranging. James Fox, The Art of Japanese Life II: Cities, BBC 1982
Your father used to bring me flowers all the time. Flowers and lingerie. The Sopranos s5e7: In Camelot, Tony’s father’s mistress Fran to Tony, HBO 2004