A collection of quotes on the topic of sleep, sleeping, likeness, night.
“Sleep. Those little slices of death. How I loathe them.”
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) American author, poet, editor and literary critic
Various forms of this quote are attributed to Poe, primarily by a title card in the movie A Nightmare on Elm Street 3, though there is no record of his having ever said it.
Misattributed
“The nicest thing for me is sleep, then at least I can dream.”
Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer
“Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.”
Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author
“I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death”
Nas (1973) American rapper, record producer and entrepreneur
N.Y. State of Mind
On Albums, Illmatic (1994)
“I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep.”
Robert Frost Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" (1923) http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171621 <br class="br">Variant: And miles to go before I sleep. <br class="br">Context: The woods are lovely, dark and deep.<br>But I have promises to keep,<br>And miles to go before I sleep,<br>And miles to go before I sleep.
Jack Handey (1949) American comedian
Saturday Night Live (1993)
Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian American inventor
Quoted in Marconi and Tesla: Pioneers of Radio Communication (2008) by Tim O'Shei, ISBN 159845076X , p. 5
“Happiness consists in getting enough sleep. Just that, nothing more.”
Robert A. Heinlein book Starship Troopers
Source: Starship Troopers
“The moon has set,
And the Pleiades.
Midnight.
The hour has gone by.
I sleep alone.”
Sappho (-630–-570 BC) ancient Greek lyric poet
Stanley Lombardo translations, Frag. 72
George Orwell (1903–1950) English author and journalist
This has commonly been attributed to Orwell but has not been found in any of his writings. Quote Investigator http://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/11/07/rough-men/ found the earliest known appearance in a 1993 Washington Times essay by Richard Grenier: "As George Orwell pointed out, people sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." The absence of quotation marks indicates Grenier was using his own words to convey Orwell's opinion; thus it may have originated as a paraphrase of his statement in "Notes on Nationalism" https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwelnat.htm (May 1945): "Those who "abjure" violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf." There are also similar sentiments expressed in an essay which Orwell wrote on Rudyard Kipling, quoting from one of Kipling's poems: "Yes, making mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep." In the same essay Orwell also wrote of Kipling: "He sees clearly that men can only be highly civilized while other men, inevitably less civilized, are there to guard and feed them." <br class="br">Misattributed
“two people can sleep in the same bed and still be alone when they close their eyes”
Haruki Murakami book Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Source: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Pink (singer) (1979) American singer-songwriter
Dear Mr. President, featuring the Indigo Girls, written by Pink and Billy Mann
Song lyrics, I'm Not Dead (2006)
Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935) Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher and philosopher
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English poet, literary critic and philosopher
Source: The Complete Poems
“There is no such thing as over training. You’re either under eating or under sleeping.”
Rich Piana (1970–2017) American bodybuilder and internet personality
“I'd like to die like my old dad, peacefully in his sleep, not screaming like his passengers.”
Bob Monkhouse (1928–2003) English entertainer
Guardian obituary http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2003/dec/30/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries
Mary Oliver (1935–2019) American writer
Variant: Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.
Source: Thirst
Martin Luther (1483–1546) seminal figure in Protestant Reformation
Widely attributed to Luther, but actually is an example given in 1658 book Ἑρμηνεια logica https://books.google.com/books?id=2MxlAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA228| of faulty logic. In Latin: <br class="br">Si vero termini in sorite sunt causae subordinatae per accidens, sorites non valet; ut ia hoc, Qui bene bibit, bene dormit; qui bene dormit, non peccat; qui non peccat, est beatus; ergo: qui bene bibit est beatus. Vitium est, quod bene bibere sit causa per accidens somni. <br class="br">Translated via Fauxtations https://fauxtations.wordpress.com/2016/08/21/drinking-and-not-sinning/: <br class="br">If, however, the conclusions in the sorite are subordinate by accident, the sorites is not valid; as in this one, He who sleeps well, drinks well; he who sleeps well, does not sin; he who does not sin, is blessed; therefore, he who drinks well is blessed. The problem is that to drink well is a cause of sleep only by accident. <br class="br">Disputed
Charles Manson (1934–2017) American criminal and musician
Interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g-U2-cAUMM
“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”
Isoroku Yamamoto (1884–1943) Japanese Marshal Admiral
Statement made after the attack on Pearl Harbor by Yamamoto as portrayed in the film Tora! Tora! Tora!, this is one of the most quoted remarks attributed to him. Though it is thought that it summarizes his sentiments well, a definite source for this quote has never been provided. William Safire wrote that there is no printed evidence to support this quote. Safire's Political Dictionary, page 666. http://books.google.com/books?id=c4UoX6-Sv1AC&pg=PA666 For more information see the Wikipedia article "Isoroku Yamamoto's sleeping giant quote". <br class="br">Disputed
“Death is not "an eternal sleep!"”
Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) French revolutionary lawyer and politician
Citizens! efface from the tomb that motto, graven by sacrilegious hands, which spreads over all nature a funereal crape, takes from oppressed innocence its support, and affronts the beneficent dispensation of death! Inscribe rather thereon these words: "Death is the commencement of immortality!" <br class="br">Source: Last speech to the National Convention http://www.bartleby.com/268/7/24.html (26 July 1794)
“We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.”
William Shakespeare The Tempest
Prospero, Act IV, scene i.
Source: The Tempest (1611)
“If I could drown in sleep as I drown in fear I would be no longer alive.”
Franz Kafka book Letters to Milena
Source: Letters to Milena
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) Austrian Romantic composer
From a letter now regarded as a forgery by Johann Friedrich Rochlitz http://www.aproposmozart.com/Stafford%20--%20Mozart%20and%20genius.rev.ref.pdf, http://www.mozartforum.com/Lore/article.php?id=108, http://www.mozartforum.com/Lore/article.php?id=106 <br class="br">Misattributed <br class="br">Context: When I am, as it were, completely myself, entirely alone, and of good cheer — say traveling in a carriage, or walking after a good meal, or during the night when I cannot sleep — it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best, and most abundantly. Whence and how they come, I know not, nor can I force them.
Karen Blixen book Out of Africa
Source: Out of Africa (1937)
Context: People who dream when they sleep at night know of a special kind of happiness which the world of the day holds not, a placid ecstasy, and ease of heart, that are like honey on the tongue. They also know that the real glory of dreams lies in their atmosphere of unlimited freedom. It is not the freedom of the dictator, who enforces his own will on the world, but the freedom of the artist, who has no will, who is free of will. The pleasure of the true dreamer does not lie in the substance of the dream, but in this: that there things happen without any interference from his side, and altogether outside his control. Great landscapes create themselves, long splendid views, rich and delicate colours, roads, houses, which he has never seen or heard of...
“Many solemn nights
Blond moon, we stand and marvel…
Sleeping our noons away”
Bashō Matsuo (1644–1694) Japanese poet
Source: Japanese Haiku
“I am terrified by this dark thing that sleeps in me.”
Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer
Source: The Collected Poems
“Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone.”
Anthony Burgess (1917–1993) English writer
“Come sleep with me: We won't make Love, Love will make us.”
Julio Cortázar (1914–1984) Argentinian writer
“I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books.”
Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, and a key figure in Spanish language literature
“sleep is the most innocent creature there is and a sleepless man
the most guilty.”
Franz Kafka book Letters to Milena
Source: Letters to Milena
"Elm" http://www.angelfire.com/tn/plath/elm.html <br class="br">Source: Ariel (1965) <br class="br">Context: p>I am inhabited by a cry.<br>Nightly it flaps out<br>Looking, with its hooks, for something to love.I am terrified by this dark thing<br>That sleeps in me;<br>All day I feel its soft, feathery turnings, its malignity.</p
“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”
Virginia Woolf book A Room of One's Own
Source: A Room of One's Own (1929), Ch. 1, p. 18
Context: The human frame being what it is, heart, body and brain all mixed together, and not contained in separate compartments as they will be no doubt in another million years, a good dinner is of great importance to good talk. One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.
“There are four basic human needs: food, sleep, sex and revenge.”
Banksy pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, and painter
Existencilism (2002)
“The main facts in human life are five: birth, food, sleep, love and death.”
E.M. Forster (1879–1970) English novelist
“We are born from a quiet sleep, and we die to a calm awakening”
Zhuangzi (-369–-286 BC) classic Chinese philosopher
“We dream in our waking moments, and walk in our sleep.”
Nathaniel Hawthorne book The Scarlet Letter
Source: The Scarlet Letter
George Orwell book Down and Out in Paris and London
Source: Down and out in Paris and London (1933), Ch. 29
“"When I sleep too much I don't score. That's the reason I like to go out a lot."”
Romário (1966) Brazilian association football player
Quando durmo muito, não faço gols, por isso gosto de ficar na noite.
Source: Veja Magazine; 1895 Edition. March 9th, 2005.
Context: Romário was seen in different night clubs during his carreer while being the top scorer in almost every major competition he played in.
Monica Bellucci (1964) Italian actress
As quoted in "It's Monica Mania" by Richard Corliss in TIME (10 March 2003) http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1004378,00.html
Paul Tibbets (1915–2007) United States Air Force pilot
1975 interview http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7073441.stm
“Sex and sleep alone make me conscious that I am mortal.”
Alexander the Great (-356–-323 BC) King of Macedon
As quoted in Alexander the Great (1973) by Robin Lane Fox
Unsourced variant : Only sex and sleep make me conscious that I am mortal.
Osama bin Laden (1957–2011) founder of al-Qaeda
2000s, 2004, 2004 Video Broadcast on Al-Jazeera October 29
Joseph Fouché (1759–1820) French statesman
Inscription placed by his orders on the Gates of the Cemeteries in 1794; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
Le Corbusier (1887–1965) architect, designer, urbanist, and writer
The New York Times [obituary] (1965-08-28)
Attributed from posthumous publications
Tawakkol Karman (1979) Yemeni journalist, politician, human rights activist, and Nobel Peace Prize recipient
2010s, Tawakul Karman, Yemeni activist, and thorn in the side of Saleh (2011)
Raymond Chandler book The Big Sleep
Source: The Big Sleep (1939), Chapter 32, Phillip Marlowe
Context: What did it matter where you lay once you were dead? In a dirty sump or in a marble tower on top of a high hill? You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that. Oil and water were the same as wind and air to you. You just slept the big sleep, not caring about the nastiness of how you died or where you fell. Me, I was part of the nastiness now. Far more a part of it than Rusty Regan was. But the old man didn't have to be. He could lie quiet in his canopied bed, with his bloodless hands folded on the sheet, waiting. His heart was a brief, uncertain murmur. His thoughts were as gray as ashes. And in a little while he too, like Rusty Regan, would be sleeping the big sleep.
Muhammad (570–632) Arabian religious leader and the founder of Islam
Narrated in Bukhari by Abu Huraira, Vol. 9, Book 87, Hadith 141 http://sunnah.com/bukhari/91/31 <br class="br">Sunni Hadith
John Green book Looking for Alaska
Miles "Pudge" Halter about Alaska Young, p. 88
Looking for Alaska (2005)
“Men grow tired of sleep, love, singing and dancing, sooner than of war.”
A misquotation http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2009-August/092648.html of:<br><br>Πάντων μὲν κόρος ἐστὶ καὶ ὕπνου καὶ φιλότητος<br>μολπῆς τε γλυκερῆς καὶ ἀμύμονος ὀρχηθμοῖο,<br>τῶν πέρ τις καὶ μᾶλλον ἐέλδεται ἐξ ἔρον εἷναι<br>ἢ πολέμου· Τρῶες δὲ μάχης ἀκόρητοι ἔασιν.<br><br>Men get<br>Their fill of all things, of sleep and love, sweet song<br>And flawless dancing, and most men like these things<br>Much better than war. Only Trojans are always<br>Thirsty for blood!<br><br>Iliad, XIII, 636–639 (tr. Ennis Rees)<br><br>The misquotation implies that an overweening love of war was the norm, whereas the real quote decries the Trojans as inhumane for keeping the war going. <br class="br">Misattributed
“Cats have it all - admiration, an endless sleep, and company only when they want it.”
Rod McKuen (1933–2015) American poet, songwriter, composer, and singer
“And sleep, that sometime shuts up sorrow's eye, Steal me awhile from mine own company.”
William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night's Dream
Source: A Midsummer Night's Dream
“I put a piece of paper under my pillow, and when I could not sleep I wrote in the dark.”
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist
Malcolm X (1925–1965) American human rights activist
Source: Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements
“He was stupid. If I killed everyone who was stupid, I wouldn't have time to sleep.”
Tamora Pierce In the Hand of the Goddess
Source: In the Hand of the Goddess
“Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine”
Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican scholastic philosopher of the Roman Catholic Church
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) Austrian poet and writer
Source: Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God
P. C. Cast book Awakened
Source: Awakened
Patricia Briggs book Iron Kissed
Source: Iron Kissed
Joan Rivers (1933–2014) American comedian, actress, and television host
As quoted in Funny Ladies (2001), by B. Adler, p. 147
“Just as a well-filled day brings blessed sleep, so a well-employed life brings a blessed death.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
“The essence of what I desire is simply this: to sleep away life.”
Fernando Pessoa book The Book of Disquiet
Source: The Book of Disquiet
“I read like a wolf eats.
I read myself to sleep every night.”
Gary Paulsen (1939) American writer and musher
“In every man sleeps a prophet, and when he wakes there is a little more evil in the world.”
Emil M. Cioran book A Short History of Decay
A Short History of Decay (1949)
“Give a man a reputation as an early riser and he can sleep 'til noon.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
