Quotes about tears
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“I say what other people only think, and when all the rest of the world is in a conspiracy to accept the mask for the true face, mine is the rash hand that tears off the plump pasteboard, and shows the bare bones beneath.”

Wilkie Collins book The Woman in White

Source: The Woman in White

People, World, Thinking

“You’re in my bones and my blood and my heart,” he said. “I’d have to tear myself open to let you go.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Heart

“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.”

Robert Frost book Collected Poems of Robert Frost

The Figure a Poem Makes (1939)
Variant: The ear is the only true writer and the only true reader.
Source: Collected Poems of Robert Frost

“Youth calls to age across the tired years: 'What have you found,' he cries, 'what have you sought?" 'What have you found,' age answers through his tears, 'What have you sought.”

Dylan Thomas (1914–1953) Welsh poet and writer

Source: The Poems of Dylan Thomas

Youth, Age

“And sometimes even music
Cannot substitute for tears.”

Paul Simon (1941) American musician, songwriter and producer

The Cool, Cool River
Song lyrics, The Rhythm of the Saints (1990)

Music

“Memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart.”

Haruki Murakami book Kafka on the Shore

Source: Kafka on the Shore

Memory, Sad

“Aww, did we masturbate through the tears last night?”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Lothaire

Night

“There's nothing like your mother's sympathetic voice to make you want to burst into tears.”

Sophie Kinsella book The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic

Source: Confessions of a Shopaholic

Mother's Day, For Parents, For Mother

“Hell was not a pit of fire and brimstone. Hell was waking up alone, the sheets wet with your tears and your seed, knowing the woman you had dreamed of would never come back to you.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Seduce Me at Sunrise

Dreams, Hell

“We must never shed tears
That is the life form’s defeat and if we give into the emotions then it only becomes proof of our inability to control it.”

Tite Kubo (1977) Japanese manga artist

Life

“No one but Night, with tears on her dark face, watches beside me in this windy place.”

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) American poet

Night

“It is foolish to tear one’s hair in grief, as though sorrow would be made less by baldness.”

Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman

“A grief without a pang, void, dark and drear,
A drowsy, stifled, unimpassioned grief,
Which finds no natural outlet or relief,
In word, or sigh, or tear.”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English poet, literary critic and philosopher

Nature

“The entire time I'm burning in Hell, I'll regret each tear I made you weep. But if Hell were the price for twenty days with you, I'd condemn myself again and again.

- Cian MacKeltar”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Spell of the Highlander

Hell, Time

“He played of love and loss and years of silence, words unsaid and vows unspoken, and all the spaces between his heart and theirs; and when he was done, and he'd set the violin back in its box, Will's eyes were closed, but Tessa's were full of tears.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Princess

Source: Clockwork Princess

Love, Silence, Loss, Heart

“I give myself a good cry if I need it. But then I concentrate on the good things still in my life. I don't allow myself any more self-pity than that. A little each every morning, a few tears, and that's all.”

Mitch Albom Tuesdays with Morrie

Source: Tuesdays with Morrie

Life, Cry

“When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?”

William Blake Songs of Innocence and of Experience

St. 5
1790s, The Tyger (1794)
Source: Songs of Innocence and of Experience

Smile, Star

“I know what it's like to squander all your hours and all your tears and all your heart on something which turns out to be nothing. Don't waste your time.”

Sophie Kinsella book Twenties Girl

Source: Twenties Girl

Time, Heart

“Where God tears great gaps we should not try to fill them with human words.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi

God

“When I wake up, my pillow’s cold and damp with tears. But tears for what? I have no idea.”

Haruki Murakami book Kafka on the Shore

Source: Kafka on the Shore

Idea

“She doesn't speak, and I say nothing more. We just stare at each other, letting the tears roll down our cheeks. That's what tears are for, after all. A way for the soul to bleed.”

Cody McFadyen (1968) Cody McFadyen

Source: Shadow Man

Way, Soul

“There comes a point when you have to realize that the sum of all your blood, sweat, and tears will ultimately amount to zero.”

Max Brooks book World War Z

Source: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

“I wish- I wish I could dry these tears, I wish I could make this better for you. But I don't know how.”

Juliet Marillier book Son of the Shadows

Source: Son of the Shadows

“But he stays by the window, remembering that life. They had laughed. They had leaned on each other and laughed until the tears had come, while everything else—the cold and where he'd go in it—was outside, for a while anyway.”

Raymond Carver (1938–1988) American short story author and poet

Source: Distance and other stories

Life

“Waste not fresh tears over old griefs.”

Euripidés (-480–-406 BC) ancient Athenian playwright

Alexander Frag. 44

“In a way fighting was just like using magic. You said the words, and they altered the universe. By merely speaking you could create damage and pain, cause tears to fall, drive people away, make yourself feel better, make your life worse.”

Lev Grossman The Magicians

Source: The Magicians

Life, Pain, People, Way

“I've read there is no such thing as a single tear, that old poetic trope. And perhaps there isn't, since hers was simply a companion to my own.”

Elizabeth Kostova book The Historian

Source: The Historian

Reading

“America, why are your libraries full of tears?”

Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) American poet

“All you who sleep tonight
Far from the ones you love,
No hand to left or right,
An emptiness above--

Know that you aren't alone.
The whole world shares your tears,
Some for two nights or one,
And some for all your years.”

Vikram Seth (1952) Indian writer

Love, World, Sleep, Night

“The world is your exercise book, the pages on which you do your sums. It is not reality, though you may express reality there if you wish. You are also free to write lies, or nonsense, or to tear the pages.”

Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer

Source: Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

Books, World, Exercises, Reality

“And I found that I can do it if I choose to - I can stay awake and let the sorrows of the world tear me apart and then allow the joys to put me back together different from before but whole once again.”

Oriah Mountain Dreamer (1954) Canadian author

Source: The Invitation

World, Joy

“Everything measurable passes, everything that can be counted has an end. Only three things are infinite: the sky in its stars, the sea in its drops of water, and the heart in its tears.”

Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) French writer (1821–1880)

Source: The Letters of Gustave Flaubert, 1830-1857

Star, Water, Heart, Sea

“Through my tears
I found god in myself
and I loved her fiercely”

Ntozake Shange (1948–2018) Contemporary African American writer and performance artist

for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf (1976)
Variant: i found god in myself
& i loved her/i loved her fiercely

Love, God

“Let us cry for the, by all means, if by doing so we learn how to avoid spilling any more. Let us cry for the, and remember how, and where, and why, we spilt it. Much wisdom is learnt through tears, but none by forgetting our lessons.”

María Amparo Ruiz de Burton (1832–1895) Mexican-American writer

Source: The Squatter and the Don

Wisdom, Learning, Cry, Forgetting

“Don't you know that boys don't cry?' Adam grinned.
'Shall I tell you something I've only recently discovered,' I replied, not attempting to hide the tears rolling down my face and not the least bit ashamed of them. 'Boys don't cry, but real men do.”

Malorie Blackman book Boys Don't Cry

Source: Boys Don't Cry

Men, Boy, Cry

“And I kissed away a thousand tears
My lady of the Various Sorrows
Some begged, some borrowed, some stolen
Some kept safe for tomorrow.”

Nick Cave (1957) Australian musician

Kiss

“We are defining the boundaries of normality by tearing apart the people outside it.”

Jon Ronson book So You've Been Publicly Shamed

Source: So You've Been Publicly Shamed

People

“There are 3 reasons for why you can't beat me. First, I'm better looking than you are. Second, your blows are too light. And third, there's nothing in the world I can't tear up.”

Akimine Kamijyo (1975) Japanese manga artist

Source: Samurai Deeper Kyo, Volume 03

World, Light

“I wonder if I cry whether my tears would be gray.”

Susan Beth Pfeffer book Life As We Knew It

Source: Life As We Knew It

Cry

“Past tears are present strength.”

George MacDonald book Phantastes

Source: Phantastes

Past

“Secrets tear you apart.”

Mitch Albom For One More Day

Source: For One More Day

Secret

“Before you can inspire with emotion, you must be swamped with it yourself. Before you can move their tears, your own must flow. To convince them, you must yourself, believe.”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

“Cursed?" I offered, my voice croaky because of my unshed tears.
"It isn't cursed." John said deliberately, rearranging the chain around my neck, "if you're wearing it. It's blessed.”

Meg Cabot (1967) Novelist

Source: Underworld

“Give them back! Give my tears back, right now——with interest!!”

Natsuki Takaya (1973) Manga artist

“Damon’s voice was no louder than before. “Get away from my brother.” Bonnie could feel it inside him, a swell of Power like a tsunami. He continued, “Before I tear your heart out.”

L.J. Smith (1965) American author

Source: The Fury / Dark Reunion

Feeling, Heart

“Did you miss me?’
“A little bit,” she said with a shrug.
“You have tears running down your cheeks,” he said with a grin. “I think you missed me more than a little.”

Robyn Carr American writer

Source: Wild Man Creek

Thinking

“We should not shed tears
That is a surrender of the body to the heart
It is only proof
That we are beings that do not know
What to do with out hearts”

Tite Kubo (1977) Japanese manga artist

Source: Bleach, Volume 01

Heart

“Tears stung her eyes. She sank her knees next to the sleeping bench and gently raked strands of golden hair from him forehead.
"Don't you die. don't you dare. I forbid it." As if Han Alister had ever listened to anything she said.”

Cinda Williams Chima (1952) Novelist

Source: The Gray Wolf Throne

Sleep

“There was a sliver of moon and a splash of stars, and the light outlined her face and glistened on the tears that ran like mercury down her cheeks.”

Jonathan Maberry book Rot & Ruin

Source: Rot & Ruin

Star, Light

“Those big blue eyes were swimming, and he was afraid that if the first tear fell, he would break and carry her off anywhere she wanted to go.”

Nora Roberts (1950) American romance writer

Source: Daring to Dream

“You can’t buy time, Nick. Ever. It’s the only thing in life you can’t get most of, and it’s the one thing that will mercilessly tear you up when it’s gone. It takes no pity on no soul and no heart.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Invincible

Life, Soul, Time, Heart

“There's a huge seal called 'impossibility' pasted all over this world. And don't ever forget that we're the only ones who can tear it off once and for all.”

Yukio Mishima book The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea

Source: The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea

World, Past, Forgetting

“God, is this all it is, the ricocheting down the corridor of laughter and tears? Of self-worship and self-loathing? Of glory and disgust?”

Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer

Source: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

God, Laughter

“My voice is clotted with unshed tears.”

Sophie Kinsella book Remember Me?

Source: Remember Me?

“Time to plant tears, says the almanac.
The grandmother sings to the marvelous stove
and the child draws another inscrutable house.”

Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979) American poet

Source: The Complete Poems 1927-1979

Singing, Time, Drawing, Housing

“If I didn't think, I'd be much happier; if I didn't have any sex organs, I wouldn't waver on the brink of nervous emotion and tears all the time.”

Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer

1950 entry, quoted in Kate Moses, "The Real Sylvia Plath," Salon.com (2000-06-01) http://dir.salon.com/story/books/feature/2000/06/01/plath2/ <br class="br">The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath (2000) <br class="br">Variant: If I didn't think, I'd be much happier; if I didn't have any sex organs, I wouldn't waver on the brink of nervous emotion and tears all the time. <br class="br">Source: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

Sex, Thinking, Time