Dicho español · Spanish proverb
«No hay rosa sin espinas.»
Word for word
There is no rose without thorns.
What it really means
The closest English equivalent: Every rose has its thorn.
Everything delightful comes with drawbacks — jobs, cities, people.
Hear it in a sentence
Su nuevo trabajo es fascinante pero agotador: no hay rosa sin espinas.
Her new job is fascinating but exhausting — every rose has its thorn.
More Spanish sayings
- Barriga llena, corazón contento. — A full belly makes a happy heart.
- Nadie nace sabiendo. — Nobody is born knowing everything.
- El que la sigue, la consigue. — He who keeps at it, gets it.
- El que tiene padrino se bautiza. — It's not what you know, it's who you know.
- Más vale malo conocido que bueno por conocer. — Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
Why learn dichos?
Proverbs like this one are everywhere in spoken Spanish — dropped mid-conversation, usually just the first half, with the rest left for you to complete. Recognizing them is one of the fastest ways to sound less like a textbook and follow real speech. Every Lingocito edition signs off with the dicho del día, so you meet one a day next to news written at your level.