A smile abroad is often a scowl at home.
Interpretation
People often present a happy front to the outside world while hiding their true feelings at home.
This quote by Alfred Lord Tennyson reflects the duality of human emotions, where individuals might appear cheerful and courteous in public yet face inner turmoil or dissatisfaction in their private lives. It suggests that the persona we project to others can be vastly different from our true emotional state, particularly within our closest relationships. This dichotomy often leads to misunderstandings and highlights the complexity of personal happiness and the masks we wear.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about mental health awareness.
Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark; For though from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar.
How many a father have I seen, A sober man, among his boys, Whose youth was full of foolish noise.
O Love! what hours were thine and mine, In lands of palm and southern pine; In lands of palm, of orange-blossom, Of olive, aloe, and maize and vine!
Earth is dry to the centre,_x000D_ But spring, a new comer,_x000D_ A spring rich and strange,_x000D_ Shall make the winds blow_x000D_ Round and round,_x000D_ Thro' and thro',_x000D_ Here and there,_x000D_ Till the air_x000D_ And the ground_x000D_ Shall be fill'd with life anew.
O love, O fire! once he drew With one long kiss my whole soul through My lips, as sunlight drinketh dew.
But thy strong Hours indignant work’d their wills, And beat me down and marr’d and wasted me, And tho’ they could not end me, left me maim’d To dwell in presence of immortal youth, Immortal age beside immortal youth, And all I was, in ashes. - Tithonus
Expressing our vulnerability can help resolve conflicts.
If you are open with someone, he will be open with you. If you want love from someone, give your love to him. If you want kind and sympathetic behavior from someone, be kind and sympathetic to him.
The smallest indivisible human unit is two people, not one; one is a fiction. From such nets of souls societies, the social world, human life springs.
Who can say what heartbreaks are caused in a dog by our discontinuing a romp?
I have a respect for manners as such, they are a way of dealing with people you don't agree with or like.
Forgiveness to the injured does belong; but they ne'er pardon who have done wrong.
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