Quote of the Day

"Laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone."

Never said that all of the quotes would be uplifting, just related to happiness.  This quotation is actually a slightly altered variation of the first line of a poem by Ella Wilcox and it was the only question on my university English proficiency exam.  We had 1,000 words to discuss what we thought it meant.  No idea what my 19 year-old self wrote, but the poem is a pretty accurate assessment of how the world treats us when we suffer.  Makes me want to re-read the Charter for Compassion.

"Solitude"

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Laugh, and the world laughs with you:
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth
Must borrow its mirth,
It has trouble enough of its own.

Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air;
The echoes bound
To a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.

Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go;
They want full measure
Of all your pleasure,
But they do not want your woe.

Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all;
There are none to decline
Your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life's gall.

Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by;
Succeed and give,
And it helps you live,
But it cannot help you die.

There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train;
But one by one
We must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.