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Who really said it

Truths and roses have thorns about them

Not original to Thoreau — an older proverb Unknown (a traditional proverb) Attested in print by 1809 · anonymous English aphorism, older than Thoreau
Disputed Free to reuse

“Truths and roses have thorns about them” is an anonymous aphorism that was already in print before Thoreau was born in 1817. He is said to have copied it into his journal on 14 June 1838, but Wikiquote files it under “Misattributed” ↗ for exactly that reason — he recorded the proverb rather than coining it, and it does not appear in his standard published Journal.

Last verified 8 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“Truths and roses have thorns about them” Truths and roses have thorns about them. — an anonymous proverb (in print by 1809), often misattributed to Henry David Thoreau

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Henry David Thoreau. Use the credit shown above instead.

Can you use it?

Free to use, including in commercial and paid presentations — no permission or licence needed.

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In context

Evoking the themes of truth and wisdom. Theme: "Truths and roses have thorns about them". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Provenance

Where it really comes from

Quote
Truths and roses have thorns about them
Popularly credited to
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
Actually
An anonymous English proverb, in print by 1809 — before Thoreau's birth
Thoreau's role
Said to have copied it into his journal, 14 June 1838 (per Wikiquote) — transcribed, not coined

Truths and roses have thorns about them.

The line circulated as a stand-alone proverb; no larger original passage by Thoreau is known, and it is absent from his published Journal, Vol. 1.

Wikiquote: Henry David Thoreau (Misattributed)

How we verified this

Public domain

The wording is an anonymous English aphorism documented in print by 1809 — more than a century before the 1931 U.S. copyright cutoff — so the phrase itself is firmly in the public domain.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

How it got pinned on Thoreau

The sentiment is genuine and the line is old — but the “Henry David Thoreau” byline is the modern quote-industry's doing, not history's.

Henry David Thoreau Misattributed

Thoreau is said to have jotted the proverb into his journal (14 June 1838), and later anthologists turned that transcription into a “Thoreau quote.” Wikiquote ↗ files it under Misattributed for exactly this reason: he copied it, he did not coin it.

It is a traditional aphorism that predates Thoreau — already in print in The Port Folio (1809) ↗ and in a Spanish-language exercise book (1811) ↗ — both before his birth in 1817.

Context

What it means

Truths and roses have thorns about them is a compact paradox: the things most worth having — honest truth, real beauty — come guarded by something that pricks. A rose defends its bloom with thorns; a truth defends itself by being uncomfortable to hold.

As folk wisdom it belongs to a whole family of rose-and-thorn maxims, and its survival owes more to that proverbial tradition than to any single author.

The best things come guarded — the rose by its thorn, the truth by its sting.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Truth Wisdom

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Wikiquote — Henry David Thoreauen.wikiquote.org

Lists the line under Misattributed, with pre-1817 print citations.
The Port Folio, Vol. 2 (1809)books.google.com

The 1809 appearance Wikiquote cites — before Thoreau's birth.
Thoreau, Journal Vol. 1 (Gutenberg)gutenberg.org

Full 1906 published journal; the phrase does not appear in it.
Goodreads — the Thoreau attributiongoodreads.com

Typical source-free crediting of the line to Thoreau.
Fernandez, Spanish Exercises (1811)books.google.com

An 1811 schoolbook appearance Wikiquote cites as pre-Thoreau.

The name it's pinned to

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

1817–1862 · American essayist, poet and naturalist

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) was the Concord essayist and naturalist behind Walden and Civil Disobedience. From 1837 he kept voluminous journals that mixed original reflection with copied maxims and reading notes. This rose-and-thorns line reads like one of those borrowed proverbs; its fame as a “Thoreau quote” comes from later quote collectors, not from anything he claimed as his own invention.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Wikiquote (Misattributed)

Attributed to Henry David Thoreau but not original to him; documented in print before his birth, e.g. in Joseph Dennie and Asbury Dickins, The Port Folio, vol. 2, no. 1 (Philadelphia, July 1809), 431, as cited in Wikiquote.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Truths and roses have thorns about them’?” Last verified 8 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/truths-and-roses-have-thorns-about-them/

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