The soul would have no rainbow, had the eyes no tears.
John Vance Cheney
Writer and librarian John Vance Cheney often chose nature as his muse. Here he suggests that sadness, like rain, is a normal part of life, and just as a storm gives way to clearer skies, a good cry is often followed by a period of greater clarity. Cheney believed passing through sadness could engender a beautiful opening and expression of the soul, like a rainbow after a storm. This quote is reflective of much of Cheney’s creative writing, which often succinctly draws the reader's attention to the wonders of the natural world and their parallels and reverberations within the human spirit.
