Sorrow makes for sincerity, I think.
– Tennessee Williams
A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 3. Blanche says this to Mitch in an intimate moment between the two. This is after he shares the story of the silver cigarette case given him by a dying girl with an inscription from a Browning love poem. Blanche is saying that people who have felt sorrow in their lives are more sincere. However, her words are ironic. For while Blanche has felt the sorrow of losing a husband, she is playing the part of an innocent women with Mitch, while covering up a scandalous and promiscuous past.