proverb · Words worth keeping
A man laughs at others and weeps for himself.
A man laughs at others and weeps for himself.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Laughing at others and weeping for oneself contrasts responses to another person’s troubles and one’s own. It questions unequal sympathy.
What the words are saying
At others suggests the direction of laughter, while the supplied gloss describes hiding one’s pain behind a smile, a different idea. A qualified interpretation can examine self-centred reactions without asserting that everyone behaves this way or presuming motives from a single moment. Compassion need not stop at one’s own experience.
Everyday example
Someone notices that they dismissed another person’s difficulty but took a similar personal difficulty seriously.
When to use it
Use it to discuss a specific imbalance in sympathy with the gloss difference clear.
What it does not mean
No universal selfishness or hidden-grief diagnosis is established.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- Contributor-provided proverb reference
Supplied reference A; unit 938; PDF page 131
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.