This quote is often misattributed to Abraham Lincoln because he mentioned roses and thorns in his 1850 eulogy for Zachary Taylor, the twelfth President of the United States:

"The Presidency, even to the most experienced politicians, is no bed of roses; and Gen. Taylor like others, found thorns within it. No human being can fill that station and escape censure."

The earliest use of this quote was found in French journalist & author Alphonse Karr's book, "Lettres écrites de mon jardin” (“Letters written from my garden”) in 1853. However, he too wrote it in a different manner (although it means exactly the same thing), he wrote it as a poem:

"De leur meilleur côté tâchons de voir les choses:

Vous vous plaignez de voir les rosiers épineux;

Moi je me réjouis et rends grâces aux dieux

Que les épines aient des roses."

"Let us try to see things from their better side:

You complain about seeing thorny rose bushes;

Me, I rejoice and give thanks to the gods

That thorns have roses."

The original source of this famous life quote!