“Shed no tear! oh, shed no tear!The flower will bloom another year.Weep no more! oh, weep no more!Young buds sleep in the root’s white core.Dry your eyes! oh, dry your eyes!For I was taught in ParadiseTo ease my breast of melodies,— Shed no tear.Overhead! look overhead!‘Mong the blossoms white and red—Look up, look up! I flutter nowOn this fresh pomegranate bough.See me! ’tis this silvery billEver cures the good man’s ill.Shed no tear! oh, shed no tear!The flower will bloom another year.Adieu, adieu—I fly—adieu!I vanish in the heaven’s blue,— Adieu, adieu!- Fairy Song”

“Tears will not fill your stomach; Tears will not bring kindness. If you have time to shed tears, laugh; someone will be willing to look at a hearty smile more then a tear soaked sponge.”

“Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength.”

“The sin of smiling whilst Louise was weeping, the sin of shedding my own tears and not hers. The sin of being another being.”

“I shed more tears than God could ever have required.”

“Then I noticed that my shadow was crying too, shedding clear, sharp shadow tears. Have you ever seen the shadows of tears, Mr. Wind-Up Bird? They’re nothing like ordinary shadows. Nothing at all. They come here from some other, distant world, especially for our hearts. Or maybe not. It struck me then that the tears my shadow was shedding might be the real thing, and the tears that I was shedding were just shadows. You don’t get it, I’m sure, Mr. Wind-Up Bird. When a naked seventeen-year-old girl is shedding tears in the moonlight, anything can happen. It’s true.”