APAD: Laugh and the world laughs with you; weep and you weep

alone.

Meaning:

Look happy as people are attracted to happiness but repelled by misery.

 

Background:

 

This expression was coined by American poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919) in

her poem "Solitude" (1883):

 

    Laugh, and the world laughs with you;

    Weep, and you weep alone.

    For the sad old earth must borrow it's mirth,

    But 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 need 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 no man can 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.