Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth
Must borrow it's mirth,
It has trouble enough of it's 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.
--Ella Wheeler Wilcox, "
Solitude"
http://forum.quoteland.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=586192041&f=099191541&m=8051992073&r=6231913073#6231913073http://forum.quoteland.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=586192041&f=099191541&m=221198468&r=576190568#576190568The desire for knowledge, like the thirst for riches, increases ever with the acquisition of it. ~ Laurence Sterne 1760
