A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
All Commentaries on Proverbs 15:13 Go To Proverbs 15
Basil the Great
AD 379
Those who live under discipline should avoid very carefully even such intemperate action as is commonly regarded lightly. Indulging in unrestrained and immoderate laughter is a sign of intemperance, of a want of control over one’s emotions and of failure to repress the soul’s frivolity by a stern use of reason. It is not unbecoming, however, to give evidence of merriment of soul by a cheerful smile, if only to illustrate that which is written, “A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance”; but raucous laughter and uncontrollable shaking of the body are not indicative of a wellregulated soul, or of personal dignity, or selfmastery.
