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Perhaps I am just a coward who loves to laugh at life better than I do cry with it. But when I do get to crying, boy, I can roll a mean tear.
Zora Neale Hurston
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects the speaker's preference for finding humor in life rather than succumbing to sadness, while acknowledging their capacity for deep emotion.

In this quote, Zora Neale Hurston expresses a complex relationship with emotions, particularly the interplay between laughter and tears. She identifies with a more lighthearted approach to life's challenges, suggesting that laughter serves as a coping mechanism. However, she also candidly admits that when sorrow does strike, it affects her deeply, highlighting the duality of human experience where joy and sadness coexist.

Themes

HumorLaughterTearsEmotionLife

In practice

Example use cases

During a motivational speech, one might share this quote to illustrate the importance of maintaining humor in the face of life's challenges.

More from Zora Neale Hurston

It seems that fighting is a game where everybody is the loser.
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Lack of power and opportunity passes off too often for virtue.
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From barren brown stems to glistening leaf-buds; from the leaf-buds to snowy virginity of bloom…It was like a flute song forgotten in another existence and remembered again. What? How? Why? This singing she heard that had nothing to do with her ears. The rose of the world was breathing out smell. It followed her through all her waking moments and caressed her in her sleep.
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Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me.
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Don't you realize that the sea is the home of water? All water is off on a journey unless it's in the sea, and it's homesick, and bound to make its way home someday.
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Two things everybody's got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves.
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