In Honor of Bees

"One can no more approach people without love than one can approach 

bees without care. Such is the quality of bees..."

~ Leo Tolstoy

The careful insect 'midst his works I view,

Now from the flowers exhaust the fragrant dew,

With golden treasures load his little thighs,

And steer his distant journey through the skies.

~ John Gay

"Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don't they should, 

for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers."

~ Ray Bradbury

Bees work for man, and yet they never bruise

Their Master's flower, but leave it having done,

As fair as ever and as fit to use;

So both the flower doth stay and honey run.

~ George Herbert

"The keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams."

~ Henry David Thoreau

“The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, 

but because she labors for others.”

~ Saint John Chrysostom

"If the bee disappeared off the face of the earth, 

man would only have four years left to live."

~ Albert Einstein