Last Updated on February 10, 2020 by Sophie Nadeau
The humble primrose is a tiny and dainty flower which signals mid-spring with its pale yellow petals. Throughout the UK, this little plant will grow so prolifically quite literally anywhere in either the sun or shade, though its commonly found in wooded areas. Here are some beautiful primrose quotes to brighten up your spring!
Though the Latin Name for ‘Primrose’ is primula vulgaris, its vernacular name (common name) Primrose, is derived from Latin prima rosa and literally means first rose of the year despite having no link to the Rosaceae (rose) family. For more history of this wonderful flower, check out our guide to Primula Vulgaris. Otherwise, read on to discover the best sayings about primroses…
‘The Primrose opens wide in spring;
Her scent is sweet and good:
It smells of every happy thing
In sunny lane and wood…’
Mary Cicely Barker – from ‘The Primrose Fairy,’ English Illustrator and artist (1895 – 1973)
“Life is very tough and fragile at the same time, it never backs down or surrenders, but will break open to reveal its beauty and ugliness.
As an evening primrose that blooms in the flooding moonlight, just before being trampled upon underfoot by the four-legged frost of the night.”
“Her modest looks the cottage might adorn,
Sweet as the primrose peeps beneath the thorn”.
Oliver Goldsmith – Irish novelist, playwright, and poet (1728 – 1774)
“Now when the primrose makes a splendid show, And lilies face the March-winds in full blow, And humbler growths as moved with one desire Put on, to welcome spring, their best attire, Poor Robin is yet flowerless; but how gay With his red stalks upon this sunny day!”
William Wordsworth – from the poem ‘Poor Robin,’ English romantic poet (1770 – 1850)
“Primroses, the Spring may love them;
Summer knows but little of them”.
William Wordsworth – English romantic poet (1770 – 1850)
“BEHOLD, my love, how green the groves,
The primrose banks how fair;
The balmy gales awake the flowers,
And wave thy flowing hair”.
Robert Burns – from the poem song ‘Behold, My Love, How Green The Groves poem’, Scottish poet and lyricist (1759 – 1796)
“Ring-ting! I wish I were a primrose,
A bright yellow primrose blowing in the spring!
The stooping boughs above me,
The wandering bee to love me,
The fern and moss to creep across,
And the elm-tree for our king!”
William Allingham – from the poem ‘wishing,’ Irish poet, diarist, and editor (1824 – 1889)
“A tuft of evening primroses,
O’er which the mind may hover till it dozes;
O’er which it well might take a pleasant sleep,
But that ’tis ever startled by the leap
Of buds into ripe flowers”.
John Keats — from ‘I Stood Tiptoe Upon a Little Hill,’ English Romantic poet (1795 – 1821)
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