“The laughter knows the depth of his own sorrows but never tears.”

— ratikanta1968

Last update Nov. 30, 2023. History

Related quotes

“The tears that you spill, the sorrowful, are sweeter than the laughter of snobs and the guffaws of scoffers.”

Khalil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese artist, poet, and writer

A Handful of Sand on the Shore

“You're quite wrong, you know. I am the most permanent person that you will eve meet," said Magnus, his voice breathless with laughter and his eyes stung a little by tears. "It is only that it never makes a difference.”

Cassandra Clare The Bane Chronicles

Source: The Bane Chronicles

“When it comes to death, we know that laughter and tears are pretty much the same thing.”

Sherman Alexie book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Source: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

“The source of all humor is not laughter, but sorrow.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Variant: The secret source of humor is not joy but sorrow; there is no humor in heaven.

“None knows the day that friends must part
None knows how near is sorrow;
If there be laughter in your heart
Don't hold it for tomorrow.”

Edgar Guest (1881–1959) American writer

Source: A Heap o' Livin' (1916), A Song, opening lines, p. 34.

“Your tears do not wash away your sorrows. They feed someone else's joy. And that is why you must learn to swallow your own tears.”

Amy Tan The Joy Luck Club

Source: The Joy Luck Club

“Tears are as sweet as laughter to some natures.”

Jerome K. Jerome book Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow

Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1886)

“The laughter of man is more terrible than his tears, and takes more forms — hollow, heartless, mirthless, maniacal.”

James Thurber (1894–1961) American cartoonist, author, journalist, playwright

New York Times Magazine (7 December 1958).
Letters and interviews

“Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,
In looking on the happy Autumn-fields,
And thinking of the days that are no more.”

Alfred, Lord Tennyson Tears, Idle Tears

St. 1
Tears, Idle Tears (1850)

“How stupid it was for the king to tear out his hair in grief, as if baldness were a cure for sorrow.”

Bion of Borysthenes (-325–-246 BC) ancient greek philosopher

As quoted by Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, iii. 26

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