We look before and after,
And pine for what is not,
Our sincerest laughter
read more

We look before and after,
And pine for what is not,
Our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught:
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.

Child of mortality, whence comest thou? Why is thy countenance
sad, and why are thine eyes red with weeping?

Child of mortality, whence comest thou? Why is thy countenance
sad, and why are thine eyes red with weeping?

The human mind can bear plenty of reality but not too much intermittent gloom.

The human mind can bear plenty of reality but not too much intermittent gloom.

What is the source of sadness, but feebleness of the mind? What giveth it power but the want of reason? read more

What is the source of sadness, but feebleness of the mind? What giveth it power but the want of reason? Rouse thyself to the combat, and she quitteth the field before thou strikest.

If you see a friend without a smile; give him one of yours.

If you see a friend without a smile; give him one of yours.

Nobody deserves your tears, but whoever deserves them will not make you cry.

Nobody deserves your tears, but whoever deserves them will not make you cry.

It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt
you to the heart: the one to slander read more

It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt
you to the heart: the one to slander you and the other to get
the news to you.

Sadness does not inhere in things; it does not reach us from the world and through mere contemplation of the read more

Sadness does not inhere in things; it does not reach us from the world and through mere contemplation of the world. It is a product of our own thought. We create it out of whole cloth.

Of all tales 'tis the saddest--and more sad,
Because it makes us smile.

Of all tales 'tis the saddest--and more sad,
Because it makes us smile.