One should never be ashamed to cry. Tears are rain on the dust of earth.
Interpretation
Crying is a natural and healthy expression of emotions, just like rain nourishes the earth.
In this quote, Charles Dickens emphasizes the importance of expressing emotions, particularly through crying, without shame. He likens tears to rain that revitalizes and cleanses the 'dust of earth,' suggesting that emotional release is vital for personal renewal and growth, much like how rain is essential for nurturing the environment.
In practice
In a speech about mental health, one might quote Dickens to remind the audience that it's okay to express emotions.
I recollected one story there was in the village, how that on a certain night in the year (it might be that very night for anything I knew), all the dead people came out of the ground and sat at the heads of their own graves till morning.
A silent look of affection and regard when all other eyes are turned coldly away-the consciousness that we possess the sympathy and affection of one being when all others have deserted us-is a hold, a stay, a comfort, in the deepest affliction, which no wealth could purchase, or power bestow.
Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before--more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.
There are not a few among the disciples of charity who require, in their vocation, scarcely less excitement than the votaries of pleasure in theirs.
You might, from your appearance, be the wife of Lucifer,” said Miss Pross, in her breathing. “Nevertheless, you shall not get the better of me. I am an Englishwoman.
Christmas is a poor excuse every 25th of December to pick a man's pockets.
Truth is like a vast tree which yields more and more fruit the more you nurture it. The deeper the search in the mind of truth, the richer the discovery of the gems buried there.
Trust not too much to appearances.
The only thing that kept me going was stories. Stories are hope. They take you out of yourself for a bit, and when you get dropped back in, you're different- you're stronger, you've seen more, you've felt more. Stories are like spiritual currency.
Only when you combine sound intellect with emotional discipline do you get rational behavior.
Wealth and rank are what men desire, but unless they be obtained in the right way they may not be possessed. Poverty and obscurity are what men detest; but unless prosperity be brought about in the right way, they are not to be abandoned.
Geniuses must never die, the progress of mankind depends on us
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