QuoteProject
I have cried even when the laugh did choke me. But no more think that I am all sorry when I cry, for the laugh he come just the same. Keep it always with you that laughter who knock at your door and say, ‘May I come in?’ is not true laughter. No! He is a king, and he come when and how he like. He ask no person, he choose no time of suitability. He say, ‘I am here.
Bram Stoker
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote highlights the complexity of emotions, showing that laughter can coexist with sadness.

Bram Stoker reflects on the intertwined nature of laughter and tears, suggesting that one should not mistake the act of crying for weakness or sorrow, as true laughter is a powerful, sovereign force that arrives on its own terms. This conveys the idea that genuine joy can arise even amidst sorrow and emphasizes the unpredictability and authority of laughter in our emotional lives.

Themes

LaughterTearsEmotionsJoySorrow

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be used during a speech about resilience in the face of life's challenges.

More from Bram Stoker

There are such beings as vampires, some of us have evidence that they exist. Even had we not the proof of our own unhappy experience, the teachings and the records of the past give proof enough for sane peoples.
Bram StokerRead
I stood beside Van Helsing, and said;- "Ah, well, poor girl, there is peace for her at last. It is the end!" He turned to me, and said with grave solemnity:- "Not so; alas! not so. It is only the beginning!
Bram StokerRead
Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!
Bram StokerRead
Do you believe in destiny? That even the powers of time can be altered for a single purpose? That the luckiest man who walks on this earth is the one who finds… true love?
Bram StokerRead
But a stranger in a strange land, he is no one. Men know him not, and to know not is to care not for.
Bram StokerRead
Oh, the terrible struggle that I have had against sleep so often of late; the pain of the sleeplessness, or the pain of the fear of sleep, and with such unknown horror as it has for me! How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads; to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams.
Bram StokerRead

Similar quotes

To give advice to a man who asks what to do with his life implies something very close to egomania. To presume to point a man to the right and ultimate goal - to point with a trembling finger in the RIGHT direction is something only a fool would take upon himself.
Hunter S. ThompsonRead
Most pilots learn, when they pin on their wings and go out and get in a fighter, especially, that one thing you don't do, you don't believe anything anybody tells you about an airplane.
Chuck YeagerRead
One-half of the ills of life come because men are unwilling to sit down quietly for thirty minutes to think through all the possible consequences of their acts.
Blaise PascalRead
Is a diamond less valuable because it is covered with mud? God sees the changeless beauty of our souls. He knows we are not our mistakes.
Paramahansa YoganandaRead
To be a real man or woman, you've got to know what you believe in. You've got to understand that your actions have consequences and that they are connected to everything that you are.
Sister SouljahRead
Long live impudence. It was my guardian angel in this world.
Albert EinsteinRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.