quotations about bees
Full merrily the humble-bee doth sing,
Till he hath lost his honey and his sting;
And being once subdued in armed tail,
Sweet honey and sweet notes together fail.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Troilus and Cressida
And we had sugar of our own,
Ages before its name was known.
Those early homes 'neath forest trees,
Were ever musical with bees.
THOMAS MILLER
Birds, Bees, and Blossoms
How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour,
And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower!
ISAAC WATTS
Against Idleness
For where's the state beneath the firmament
That doth excel the bees for government?
GUILLAUME DE SALLUSTE DU BARTAS
Divine Weeks and Works
He has a bee in his bonnet.
JOHN RAY
English Proverbs
Here ever hum the golden bees
Underneath full-blossomed trees.
J.R. LOWELL
The Sirens
The murmer of a bee
A witchcraft yieldeth me.
If any ask me why,
'Twere easier to die
Than tell.
EMILY DICKINSON
Poems
A comely old man as busy as a bee.
JOHN LYLY
Euphues and His England
Here again we touch one of the thousand enigmas of the waxen city; and it is once more proved to us that the habits and the policy of the bees are by no means narrow, or rigidly predetermined; and that their actions have motives far more complex than we are inclined to suppose.
MAURICE MAETERLINCK
The Life of the Bee
Bees work for man, and yet they never bruise
Their Master's flower, but leave it, having done,
As fair as ever and as fit to use;
So both the flower doth stay, and honey run.
GEORGE HERBERT
Providence
Wiser far than human seer,
Yellow-breeched philosopher!
Seeing only what is fair,
Sipping only what is sweet,
Thou dost mock at fate and care,
Leave the chaff and take the wheat.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
"The Humble-Bee"
Where the bee sucks, there suck I;
In a cowslip's bell I lie.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
The Tempest
So sudden
The bees
They came flying
So violent
The bees
They came sly
So scary
The bees
They came wide
So wild
The bees
They came
crying
They said: "I take my time"
You take your time
Please take your time
I take my time
I take my time
ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
"Bees"
The bee that hath honey in her mouth, hath a sting in her tail.
JOHN LYLY
Euphues
The little bee returns with evening's gloom,
To join her comrades in the braided hive,
Where, housed beside their mighty honey-comb,
They dream their polity shall long survive.
C.T. TURNER
Summer Night in the Bee Hive
In the nice bee, what sense, so subtly true,
From pois'nous herbs extracts the healing dew?
ALEXANDER POPE
Essay on Man
For the bee, honey is the ultimate reality. It represents the fulfillment of her life mission, the triumph over her enemies, the continuity of the hive, the justification for working herself to death. Honey is to bees what money in the bank is to people--a measure of prosperity and well-being. But there is nothing abstract or symbolic about honey, as there is about money.
WILLIAM LONGGOOD & PAMELA JOHNSON
The Queen Must Die: And Other Affairs of Bees and Men
Honey is sweet, but the bee stings.
GEORGE HERBERT
Jacula Prudentum
The careful insect 'midst his works I view,
Now from the flowers exhaust the fragrant dew,
With golden treasures load his little thighs,
And steer his distant journey through the skies.
JOHN GAY
Rural Sports
The only time I ever believed that I knew all there was to know about beekeeping was the first year I was keeping them. Every year since I've known less and less and have accepted the humbling truth that bees know more about making honey than I do.
SUE HUBBELL
A Book of Bees: And How to Keep Them