QuotesCosmos
John Dryden, translation, from Theocritus. The Despairing Lover, line 57.
“

The rose is fragrant, but it fades in time: The violet sweet, but quickly past the prime* White lilies hang their heads, and soon decay, And white snow in minutes melts away.

— John Dryden on Flowers

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The rose is fragrant, but it fades in time: The violet sweet, but quickly past the prime* White lilies hang their heads, and soon decay, And white snow in minutes melts away." in the context of "John Dryden, translation, from Theocritus. The Despairing Lover, line 57." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Quote Image
Source: Wikiquote: "Flowers" (Quotes, Generally, Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922): Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 315-320.) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

Tags

#John Dryden#white#fragrant#quickly#minutes#violet#lilies#fades#sweet#prime#heads#decay
John Dryden

About John Dryden

John Dryden (19 August O.S. 9 August 1631 – 12 May O.S. 1 May 1700) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate.