Joy softens more hearts than tears. [ Mme. de Sartory ]

Music so softens and disarms the mind
That not an arrow does resistance find. [ Waller ]

Music exalts each joy, allays each grief.
Expels diseases, softens every pain,
Subdues the rage of poison and of plague. [ Armstrong ]

Oft have I heard that grief softens the mind
And makes it fearful and degenerate. [ William Shakespeare ]

A good dinner sharpens wit, while it softens the heart. [ Doran ]

Absence is a cosmetic that softens or disguises the greatest defects.

To be instructed in the arts softens the manners and makes men gentle. [ Ovid ]

Learning the liberal arts and sciences thoroughly, softens men's manners, and prevents their being a pack of brutes. [ Ovid ]

One of the most effectual ways of pleasing and of making one's self loved is to be cheerful: joy softens more hearts than tears. [ Mme. de Sartory ]

There is a magic in the memory of schoolboy friendships; it softens the heart, and even affects the nervous system of those who have no hearts. [ Beaconsfield ]