"Laugh and the world laughs with you,
Weep and you weep alone,
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own."

~ Ella Wheeler Wilcos: Solitude (1883) Amer. author/poet.

Ella's inspiration for the poem came after attempting to console a weeping young widow who was travelling on the same train as Ella.

In consoling the widow, Ella had become so bereaved herself that she could barely attend scheduled festivities. She wrote the poem for which she is best known: Solitude. It was published in The New York Sun and later in the book Poems of Passion.

Sources: DICTIONARY of QUOTATIONS, Bergen Evans. Photo: Wikipedia.