Look at it any way, Rose is a Rose:

A symbol of Love and eroticism, roses are the perfect gift, simply to say I care, Rose does it all for us. The true essence of nature, the everlasting beauty of Rose flowers blesses every soul.

"What's in a name?

That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." – William Shakespeare

Throughout the World for centuries, Rose has been the fantasy, subject interest and inspiration of many poets and artists for its beauty, love, sacrifice and selflessness. Rose the "queen of flowers" has been the inspiration of great works of art, literature, and music.

Ask any photographer, whether amateur or professional, rose in floral subject would have been his/her primary interest and particularly the fine and intricate macro details are real treat to watch and the joy doubles when it’s from your own lens. I am no different and have many close shots of roses in different colors in my collection and posted a few of them in my Flickr album.

Does any one know why such a beautiful flower on earth should have thorns?

Wikipedia explains - While the sharp objects along a rose stem are commonly called "thorns", they are actually prickles — outgrowths of the epidermis (the outer layer of tissue of the stem). Rose prickles are typically sickle-shaped hooks, which aid the rose in hanging onto other vegetation when growing over it. Despite the presence of prickles, roses are frequently browsed by deer. A few species of roses only have vestigial prickles that have no points.

Here is a beautiful & inspirational heart touching story- PARABLE OF THE ROSE:

A certain man planted a rose and watered it faithfully and before it blossomed, He examined it. He saw the bud that would soon blossom, but noticed thorns upon the stem and he thought, "How can any beautiful flower come from a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns?"

Saddened by this thought, he neglected to water the rose, and before it was ready to bloom, it died.

So it is with many people. Within every soul there is a rose. The God like qualities planted in us at birth growing amid the thorns of our faults.

Many of us look at ourselves and see only the thorns, the defects. We despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us.

We neglect to water the good within us, and eventually it dies.

We never realize our potential. Some people do not see the rose within themselves; someone else must show it to them.

One of the greatest gifts a person can possess is to be able to reach past the thorns and find the rose within others.

Lesson from the Inspirational Story:

This is the characteristic of love -to look at a person and know their true faults. Accepting that person into your life, while recognizing the nobility in their soul. Help them to realize that they can overcome their faults. If we show them the rose, they will conquer their thorns. Only then will they blossom many times over.

Our duty in this world is to help others by showing them their roses and not their thorns. Only then can we achieve the love we should feel for each other; only then can we bloom in our own garden.