Meaning
Even the most attractive opportunity or pleasant circumstance has some drawback, difficulty, or pain. More literary than every rose has its thorn. It usually acknowledges a specific drawback. Regional use: Late Middle English proverb; now literary and international.
Origin
The contrast between a rose and its thorn is ancient, but English reference works record no rose without a thorn as a late Middle English proverb. It turns the flower's beauty and fragrance into a general lesson that pleasure is rarely free of difficulty. The related every rose has its thorn is a later rewording, not the medieval citation itself.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- Every rose has its thorn
Usage Examples
- The cottage is beautiful but costly to heat: no rose without a thorn.
- Her promotion brought a longer commute: no rose without a thorn.
- The festival's success created mountains of paperwork; no rose without a thorn.