Strawberries

Strawberry Fields forever ~ John Lennon

The strawberry grows underneath the nettle
And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best
Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality.

Strawberries (Fragaria) are flowering plants in a genus within the rose family, Rosaceae, known for their edible fruits. Originally straw was used as a mulch in cultivating the plants. There are more than 20 described species and many hybrids and cultivars. The most common strawberries grown commercially are cultivars of the garden strawberry, a hybrid known as Fragaria × ananassa. Strawberries have a taste that varies by cultivar, and ranges from quite sweet to rather tart.

Quotes

• Personally I am very fond of strawberries and cream, but I have found that for some strange reason, fish prefer worms. So when I went fishing, I didn’t think about what I wanted. I thought about what they wanted. I didn't bait the hook with strawberries and cream.
  • Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936), ch. 3.

• Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields.
  Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
  Strawberry Fields forever.
  • John Lennon, "Strawberry Fields Forever" (1967).

• It was the wild strawberries, beneath dewy leaves on an almost-summer morning, who gave me my sense of the world, my place in it. [...] Even now, after more than fifty Strawberry Moons, finding a patch of wild strawberries still touches me with a sensation of surprise, a feeling of unworthiness and gratitude for the generosity and kindness that comes with an unexpected gift all wrapped in red and green. "Really? For me? Oh, you shouldn't have." After fifty years they still raise the question of how to respond to their generosity. Sometimes it feels like a silly question with a very simple answer: eat them.
  • Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Milkweed Editions. 16 September 2013. pp. 22-23. ISBN 978-1-57131-871-8. 

• The praty strawbery;
  • John Skelton, "To maystres Isabell Pennell",
    The Garlande of Laurell (1528)

• Strawberries swimming in the creame,
  • George Peele, "A Summer Song"; "The Impatient Maid",
    The Old Wives Tale (1595), Scene I

• There from the tree
  We’ll cherries plucke, and pick the strawbery.
  • Thomas Randolph, "An Ode to Mr. Anthony Stafford to hasten him into the Country",
    Poems (1638)

• Whilst creeping near the humble Ground,
  Shou’d the Strawberry be found
  Springing wheresoe’er I stray’d,
  Thro’ those Windings and that Shade.
  • Countess of Winchilsea, "The Petition for an Absolute Retreat",
    Miscellany Poems (1713)

• Open hither, open hence,
  Scarce a bramble weaves a fence,
  Where the strawberry runs red,
  With white star-flower overhead;
  • George Meredith, "The Woods Of Westermain" (1883)

• Over the fence —
  Strawberries — grow —
  Over the fence —
  I could climb — if I tried, I know —
  Berries are nice!
  But — if I stained my Apron —
  God would certainly scold!
  Oh, dear, — I guess if He were a Boy —
  He'd — climb — if He could!
  • Emily Dickinson, Over the fence (271)

• He conducted her about the lawns, and flower-beds, and conservatories; and thence to the fruit-garden and greenhouses, where he asked her if she liked strawberries.
  “Yes,” said Tess, “when they come.”
  “They are already here.” D’Urberville began gathering specimens of the fruit for her, handing them back to her as he stooped; and, presently, selecting a specially fine product of the “British Queen” variety, he stood up and held it by the stem to her mouth.
  “No—no!” she said quickly, putting her fingers between his hand and her lips. “I would rather take it in my own hand.”
  “Nonsense!” he insisted; and in a slight distress she parted her lips and took it in.
  They had spent some time wandering desultorily thus, Tess eating in a half-pleased, half-reluctant state whatever d’Urberville offered her. When she could consume no more of the strawberries he filled her little basket with them; and then the two passed round to the rose-trees, whence he gathered blossoms and gave her to put in her bosom.
  • Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Chapter V

Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations

Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 756.

• Like strawberry wives, that laid two or three great strawberries at the mouth of their pot, and all the rest were little ones.
  • Francis Bacon, Apothegms, No. 54.

• The strawberry grows underneath the nettle
  And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best
  Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality.
  • William Shakespeare, Henry V (c. 1599), Act I, scene 1, line 60.