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About this quote

What does it mean?
A single tear reveals more profound emotion and meaning than the vast physical world it momentarily obscures.
In plain terms
One tear holds deeper meaning than the whole view it blurs.
What can you take from it?
Small human emotions often outweigh large external realities in significance.

Where it applies

  • mourning
  • personal reflection
  • emotional release

Putting it to work

  • writing about grief
  • photography of close-ups
  • artistic expression

Questions to consider

  • What small sign reveals the most about your feelings?
  • How does emotion alter your view of the world?

Another view

It assumes the viewer prioritizes internal states over external observation.

More from Henry van Dyke

  1. So in the heart, When, fading slowly down the past, Fond memories depart, And each that leaves it seems the last; Long after all the rest are flown, Returns a …

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  2. And so, by night, while we were all at rest, I think the coming sped the parting guest.

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  3. What we do belongs to what we are; and what we are is what becomes of us.

    Permalink to quote #4

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