A Rose is a ...

An illustration from a 1904 issue of The Reader magazine.

A rose, rather, is the beginning, a form that can be an infusion of metaphors and ideas that are bigger than itself.

"A rose is a continuation of the rosebush" [just as one is a continuation of one's mother]. —You Are Here: Discovering the Magic of the Present Moment (2010)

"A rose is a rose because it has the principle of 'rose' and not the principle of 'fork.'"
—Lee Dian Rainey, Confucius and Confucianism: The Essentials (2010)

"A rose is a rose . . . except when you're shopping for flowers for your wedding. Then a 'bridal' rose is suddenly eight times more expensive than a regular rose." —Denise Fields, Bridal Bargains (2010)

"A rose is not always the same rose."
—Theatre Histories: An Introduction (2010)

"A rose is a rose is a labia."
—Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Incredibly Alice (2011)

"Well, a rose is also a noun."
—German For Dummies

"Everything was coming up black Peruvian roses."  From the classic sitcom Bewitched.

"A rose is a rose whether it's alive or wilted."
—Hexin E McPhee, A Vision of Love (2011)

"A rose is a rose is a rose . . . unless it's an apple! Apples are actually part of the rose family."
—Karla Dornacher, Sweet as Apple Pie (2011)

"'A rose is a rose is a rose,' but what is true of roses is not true of homicides."
—American Legal Injustice: Behind the Scenes with an Expert Witness

"A rose is a rose is a rose because innately there is a mechanism whereby the mind understands that a unit, in spite of its individual characteristics, belongs to a composite."
—Ilan Stavans, Return to Centro Historico (2011)

"Some people adopt a linear thinking, that is, a rose is a rose is a rose. Those people also emphasize cause and effect. That is to say, if you have this, then you will have that. You can trace back everything in this way."
—Peter Kien-Hong Yu, One-Dot Theory Described, Explained, Inferred, Justified, and Applied (2011)

"A rose is a rose is an onion."
—Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940)

"One might say that 'a rose is a rose is a rose' (or perhaps 'a noun is a noun is a noun'), but verbs are not so simple."
—Phineas J. Caruthers, Style & Circumstance: The Gentleperson's Guide to Good Grammar (2012)

"'A rose is a rose is a rose' . . . doesn't actually hold true for different types of damask rose oils: rose otto is preferable over rose absolute as the former is not extracted using chemical solvents."
—Stephanie Gailing, Planetary Apothecary (2012)

"We say 'rose' and mean 'rose, because a rose is a rose is a rose.'  But the truth is that words really have no meaning that isn't socially constructed."
—Rabbi Rami Shapiro, Writing, the Sacred Art (2012)