And know, reader, that an ounce of mirth, with the same degree of grace, will serve God farther than a pound of sadness.
Thomas Fuller (1608-1661) English churchman, historian
The History of the Worthies of England, “Worthies of Hertfordshire,” “Writers” (1662)
(Source)
Writing of Jeremiah Dike. By the late 19th Century, Fuller's comment had been paraphrased into something simpler, though still attributed to him:
An ounce of cheerfulness is worth a pound of sadness to serve God with.
[Source 1872, 1895, 1867]
This sentiment is not unique to Fuller. In Richard Baxter's A Treatise of Self-Denial (1659), in "A Dialog of Self-Denial" between Flesh and Spirit, Flesh says:
Why should I think of what will be tomorrow?
An ounce of mirth is worth a pound of sorrow.
The second line here may have been a common English aphorism prior to Fuller and Baxter.
Quotations about:
sadness
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
I hasten to laugh at everything, lest I should have to weep at everything.
[Je me presse de rire de tout, de peur d’être obligé d’en pleurer.]
Pierre Beaumarchais (1732-1799) French playwright, polymath [Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais]
The Barber of Seville [Le Barbier de Séville], Act 1, sc. 2 [Figaro] (1773) [tr. 1896]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:
I make haste to laugh at everything for fear of being obliged to weep.
[Motto for the London Figaro (1871)]
I am eager to laugh at all for fear of being obliged to weep.
[Source (1887)]
I hasten to laugh at everything for fear that otherwise I might be forced to weep over it.
[tr. Taylor (1922)]
I force myself to laugh at everything for fear of being forced to weep at it.
[tr. Bermel (1960)]
I forced myself to laugh at everything for fear of having to weep.
[tr. Wood (1964)]
I always hasten to laugh at everything for fear that I may be obliged to weep.
[tr. Luciani (1964)]]
I make a point of laughing at everything, for fear of having to cry.
[tr. Anderson (1993)]
I make a point of laughing at life, because otherwise I'm afraid it would make me weep.
[tr. Coward (2003)]
I quickly laugh at everything, for fear of having to cry.
[Bartlett's]
And endless other variations ("I force myself to laugh at everything, for fear of having to cry") in one-off passages.
Sometimes given, in French, as "Je me hâte de me moquer de tout, de peur d'être obligé d'en pleurer."
Compare to Byron (1820).
Life brings no greater grief
Than happiness remembered in a time
Of sorrow.[Nessun maggior dolore
Che ricordarsi del tempo felice
Ne la miseria.]Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Italian poet
The Divine Comedy [Divina Commedia], Book 1 “Inferno,” Canto 5, l. 121ff (5.121-123) [Francesca] (1320) [tr. James (2013), l. 141ff]
(Source)
Francesca de Rimini is responding to Dante's request to speak of her love affair while in the middle of being punished for it. It is a true (if slanted) tale that occured when Dante was a young man. Francesca da Polenta wed the crippled Giovanni Malatesta de Rimini, but fell in adulterous love with his brother, Paolo. Upon discovery of their affair, Giovanni killed them both. This was a local scandal, and would have been lost to time if Dante had not recorded it here. He relegates the lovers to "least" eternal punishment in Hell, in the circle of carnal sins -- while Giovanni (who was still alive when this was written) is doomed to a lower circle for the murder (treachery to kindred). (More info.)
Inspiration for this particular phrase has been credited to many sources: Wisdom 11:11-12, Boethius (Consolation of Philosophy, 2.4.3-6), and Pindar (Pythian 4.510-512) are the most common. Augustine (Confessions 10.14) and Thomas Aquinas have also been cited.
(Source (Italian)). Alternate translations:
No greater grief assails us [...]
Than in unhappy hours to recollect
A better time.
[tr. Rogers (1782)]
Oh! how grievous to relate
Past joys, and tread again the paths of fate.
[tr. Boyd (1802), st. 23]
No greater grief than to remember days
Of joy, when mis'ry is at hand!
[tr. Cary (1814)]
No keener pang hath hell.
Than to recall, amid some deep distress,
Our happier time.
[tr. Dayman (1843)]
There is no greater pain than to recall a happy time in wretchedness.
[tr. Carlyle (1849)]
There is no greater grief
Than to remember happiness in woe.
[tr. Bannerman (1850)]
No greater grief than this,
Mem'ry to hold of the past happy time
In misery.
[tr. Johnston (1867)]
There is no greater sorrow
Than to be mindful of the happy time
In misery.
[tr. Longfellow (1867)]
No greater woe is there than to call to mind the happy time in your misery.
[tr. Butler (1885)]
There is no greater grief
Than to remember us of happy time
In misery.
[tr. Minchin (1885)]
There is no greater woe than in misery to remember the happy time.
[tr. Norton (1892)]
No deeper sorrow is, than to recall a time of happiness, in misery's hour.
[tr. Sullivan (1893)]
There is no greater sorrow
Than to recall to memory times of gladness
In misery.
[tr. Griffith (1908)]
There is no greater pain than to recall the happy time in misery.
[tr. Sinclair (1939)]
No grief surpasses this [...]
In the midst of misery to remember bliss.
[tr. Binyon (1943)]
The bitterest woe of woes
Is to remember in our wretchedness
Old happy times.
[tr. Sayers (1949)]
The double grief of a lost bliss
is to recall its happy hour in pain.
[tr. Ciardi (1954)]
There is no greater sorrow than to recall, in wretchedness, the happy time.
[tr. Singleton (1970)]
There is no greater pain
than to remember, in our present grief,
past happiness!
[tr. Musa (1971)]
There is no greater sorrow
than thinking back upon a happy time
in misery.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1980)]
There is no greater sorrow
Than to think backwards to a happy time,
When one is miserable.
[tr. Sisson (1981)]
No sadness
Is greater than in misery to rehearse
Memories of joy.
[tr. Pinsky (1994), l. 107ff]
There is no greater pain than to remember the happy time in wretchedness.
[tr. Durling (1996)]
There is no greater pain, than to remember happy times in misery.
[tr. Kline (2002)]
There is no sorrow greater
than, in times of misery, to hold at heart
the memory of happiness.
[tr. Kirkpatrick (2006)]
There is no greater sorrow
than to recall our time of joy
in wretchedness.
[tr. Hollander/Hollander (2007)]
No sadness afflicts the heart
More than recalling, in times of utter disaster,
Sweetened days in which we knew no darkness.
[tr. Raffel (2010)]
but whotthehell archy whotthehell
jamais triste archy jamais triste
that is my motto.Don Marquis (1878-1937) American journalist and humorist
archy and mehitabel, “mehitabel sees paris” (1927)
(Source)
"Jamais triste" means "never sad" in French.
Wise is he who instead of grieving over what he lacks delights in what he has.
[Εὐγνώμων ὁ μὴ λυπεόμενος ἐφ’ οἷσιν οὐκ ἔχει, ἀλλὰ χαίρων ἐφ’ οἷσιν ἔχει.]
Democritus (c. 460 BC - c. 370 BC) Greek philosopher
Frag. 231 (Diels) [tr. @sententiq (2016)]
(Source)
Original Greek. Diels citation "231 (61 N.)"; collected in Joannes Stobaeus (Stobaios) Anthologium III, 17, 25. Bakewell lists this under "The Golden Sayings of Democritus." Freeman notes this as one of the Gnômae, from a collection called "Maxims of Democratês," but because Stobaeus quotes many of these as "Maxims of Democritus," they are generally attributed to the latter. Alternate translations:
- "A sensible man takes pleasure in what he has instead of pining for what he has not." [tr. Bakewell (1907)]
- "The right-minded man is he who is not grieved by what he has not, but enjoys what he has." [tr. Freeman (1948)]
- "A man of sound judgement is not grieved by what he does not possess but rejoices in what he does possess." [tr. Barnes (1987)]
- "A sensible man does not grieve for what he has not, but enjoys what he has." [Source]
If you are a person who looks at the funny side of things, then sometimes when you are lowest, when everything seems totally hopeless, you will come up with some of your best ideas. Happiness does not create humor. There’s nothing funny about being happy. Sadness creates humor.
Charles Schulz (1922-2000) American cartoonist
“On Staying Power,” My Life with Charlie Brown (2010) [ed. Inge]
(Source)
I too have known joy and sadness, and, on the whole, I prefer joy.
Ashleigh Brilliant (b. 1933) Anglo-American epigramist, aphorist, cartoonist
Pot-Shots, #2053
The sad truth is that the truth is sad.
Lemony Snicket (b. 1970) American author, screenwriter, musician (pseud. for Daniel Handler)
The Carnivorous Carnival (2002)
Proud people breed sad sorrows for themselves.
Emily Brontë (1818-1848) British novelist, poet [pseud. Ellis Bell]
Wuthering Heights, ch. 7 (1847) [Nelly Dean]
(Source)
Sorrow preys upon
Its solitude, and nothing diverts it
From its sad visions of the other world
Than calling it at moments back to this.
The busy have no time for tears.George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
The Two Foscari, Act 4, sc. 1 [Loredano] (1821)
(Source)
If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is “God is crying.” And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is “Probably because of something you did.”
Jack Handey (b. 1949) American humorist
Deep Thoughts (1992)
Usually when people are sad, they don’t do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change.
Malcolm X (1925-1965) American revolutionary, religious leader [b. Malcolm Little]
Malcolm X Speaks, ch. 9 “With Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer” (1965)
How long is life to the wretched, how short for the happy!
Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher [less correctly Publius Syrus]
Sententiae [Moral Sayings], # 621 [tr. Lyman (1862)]
Any mind that is capable of a real sorrow is capable of good.
Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) American author
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ch. 28 “Reunion” (1852)
(Source)
Believe me, every heart has its secret sorrow which the world knows not, and oftentimes we call a man cold, when he is only sad.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) American poet
Hyperion: A Romance, 3.4 (1839)
We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.
Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
Atlantic Monthly (May 1890)
From silly devotions and sad-faced saints, O Lord, deliver me.
Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582) Spanish mystic, poet, philosopher, saint
(Attributed)
Variant: "God, deliver me from sullen saints."
