Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone

Cultural

People prefer cheerfulness in others. A person who is cheerful will have company, but someone who is gloomy will often be alone. Ella Wheeler Wilcox, a poet of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, is the author of this saying.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"Laugh and the world laughs with you; weep and you weep alone," is one of the truest things that Ella Wheeler Wilcox ever said.

From Vitality Supreme by Macfadden, Bernarr

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023