Inscription on the Magdalen Altar
“Nobody deserves your tears, but whoever deserves them will not make you cry.”
“To be pathetic when we cry, we must cry without wanting to and without knowing it.”
"Entertainment or Education? (1936)
Context: The theater-goer in conventional dramatic theater says: Yes, I've felt that way, too. That's the way I am. That's life. That's the way it will always be. The suffering of this or that person grips me because there is no escape for him. That's great art — Everything is self-evident. I am made to cry with those who cry, and laugh with those who laugh. But the theater-goer in the epic theater says: I would never have thought that. You can't do that. That's very strange, practically unbelievable. That has to stop. The suffering of this or that person grips me because there is an escape for him. That's great art — nothing is self-evident. I am made to laugh about those who cry, and cry about those who laugh.
"Machine Gun"
Lyrics, Kaleidoscope Heart (2009)
Colin Singleton, p. 7
An Abundance of Katherines (2006)
“It's not whether you really cry. It's whether the audience thinks you are crying.”
Halliwell's Filmgoer's and Video Viewer's Companion
“Never cry over anything that can't cry over you”
Source: The Other Side of Dawn
“Crying can bring relief, as long as you don't cry alone.”
Source: The Diary of a Young Girl
