"The thorns — what use are they?"
"The thorns are of no use at all. Flowers have thorns just for spite!"
"I don't believe you! Flowers are weak creatures. They are naive. They reassure themselves as best they can. They believe that their thorns are terrible weapons..."

The common hill-flowers wither, but they blossom again. The laburnum will be as yellow next June as it is now. In a month there will be purple stars on the clematis, and year after year the green night of its leaves will hold its purple stars. But we never get back our youth.

We are living in a time when flowers are trying to live on flowers, instead of growing on good rain and black loam.

But now you love a hyacinth. So much the better.
You have gained a new source of enjoyment, and it is well to have as many holds upon happiness as possible.