
“Excessive sorrow laughs. Excessive joy weeps.”
Source: The Three Musketeers
“Excessive sorrow laughs. Excessive joy weeps.”
“The mother of excess is not joy but joylessness.”
http://books.google.com/books?id=Nl-vaAdJD3MC&q=%22The+mother+of+excess+is+not+joy+but+joylessness%22&pg=PA230#v=onepage
Die mutter der Ausschweifung ist nicht die Freude, sondern die Freudlosigkeit.
http://books.google.com/books?id=bzUAAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Die+mutter+der+Ausschweifung+ist+nicht+die+Freude+sondern+die+Freudlosigkeit%22&pg=RA1-PA48#v=onepage
II.77
Human, All Too Human (1878)
Source: Man’s Search for Himself (1953), p. 67
Context: Joy, rather than happiness, is the goal of life, for joy is the emotion which accompanies our fulfilling our natures as human beings. It is based on the experience of one's identity as a being of worth and dignity, who is able to affirm his being, if need be, against all other beings and the whole inorganic world.
“Excess of joy is harder to bear than any amount of sorrow.”
On porte encore moins facilement la joie excessive que la peine la plus lourde.
Part II, ch. L
Letters of Two Brides (1841-1842)
“He that never had sorrow of love never had joy of it either!”
Swem nie von liebe leit geschach,
dem geschach ouch liep von liebe nie.
Source: Tristan, Line 204