Quotes about the night

A collection of quotes on the topic of night, day, likeness, time.

Best quotes about the night

„What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway!“

— Matka Tereza Roman Catholic saint of Albanian origin 1910 - 1997

„If you can make it through the night, there's a brighter day.“

— Tupac Shakur rapper and actor 1971 - 1996

Variant: For every dark night, there's a brighter day.

„Love! Love until the night collapses!“

— Pablo Neruda Chilean poet 1904 - 1973

Source: Machu Picchu

„I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.“

— Vincent Van Gogh Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890) 1853 - 1890

„Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.“

— Victor Hugo, book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

„Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.“

— William Blake, book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Source: 1790s, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793), Proverbs of Hell, Line 41

„What hath night to do with sleep?“

— John Milton, book Paradise Lost

Source: Paradise Lost

„Who said nights were for sleep?“

— Marilyn Monroe American actress, model, and singer 1926 - 1962

„Did I do anything last night that suggested I was sane?“

— Terry Pratchett, book Going Postal

Source: Going Postal

„A career is wonderful, but you can't curl up with it on a cold night.“

— Marilyn Monroe American actress, model, and singer 1926 - 1962

Variant: A career is wonderful, but you can't curl up with it on a cold night.
Source: On Being Blonde (2007), p. 53

All quotes about the night

Total 3933 quotes night, filter:

„Help me find a way to pass the time Everybody tellin' me life's short, but I wanna die Help me find a way to make you mine Everybody tellin' me not to, but I'm gonna try Now I'm gettin' high again, tonight“

— Lil Peep American rapper 1996 - 2017

Song The Brightside, Album: Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1

Life, Way, Time, Help

„Women are beautiful in the light of the day, but are even more so in the shadows of the night.“

— Andrzej Majewski Polish writer and photographer 1966

Aphorisms. Magnum in Parvo (2000)

Women, Beauty, Light

„Reading is the greatest thing ever, I've read alot that I know what very few people know… That the stars in the night sky are suns and that there are earth-like planets orbiting those stars, meaning there are other planets like earth out there… Reading is great“

— Cornelius Keagon Liberian humanitarian aid worker 1996

Star, People, Reading, Sun

„The night is my best friend. It calms the storm in my soul and it lets the guiding stars rise.“

— Joseph Goebbels Nazi politician and Propaganda Minister 1897 - 1945

Die Nacht ist meine beste Freundin. Sie glättet den Sturm in der Seele und lässt die weisenden Sterne aufgehen.
Michael: a German fate in diary notes (1926)

Soul, Star

„I know it seems hard sometimes but remember one thing. Through every dark night, there's a bright day after that. So no matter how hard it get, stick your chest out, keep ya head up…. and handle it.“

— Tupac Shakur rapper and actor 1971 - 1996

„Stars," she whispered. "I can see the stars again, my lady."
A tear trickled down Artemis's cheek. "Yes, my brave one. They are beautiful tonight."
Stars," Zoe repeated. Her eyes fixed on the night sky. And she did not move again.“

— Rick Riordan, book The Titan's Curse

Source: The Titan's Curse

Beauty, Star, Tear

„I have a really interesting political point of view, and it’s not always something I say too loud at dinner tables here, but you can’t go from a $2,000-a-night suite at La Mirage to a penitentiary and really understand it and come out a liberal. You can’t. I wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone else, but it was very, very, very educational for me and has informed my proclivities and politics ever since.“

— Robert Downey Jr. American actor 1965

Quoted in David Carr, "Been Up, Been Down. Now? Super." http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/movies/20carr.html?_r=4&pagewanted=2&8dpc&oref=slogin&, New York Times (2008-04-20)

Education, Understanding

„At present I absolutely want to paint a starry sky. It often seems to me that night is still more richly coloured than the day; having hues of the most intense violets, blues and greens. If only you pay attention to it you will see that certain stars are lemon-yellow, others pink or a green, blue and forget-me-not brilliance. And without my expatiating on this theme it is obvious that putting little white dots on the blue-black is not enough to paint a starry sky.“

— Vincent Van Gogh Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890) 1853 - 1890

Star, Painting, Forgetting

„I love borders. August is the border between summer and autumn; it is the most beautiful month I know.

Twilight is the border between day and night, and the shore is the border between sea and land. The border is longing: when both have fallen in love but still haven't said anything. The border is to be on the way. It is the way that is the most important thing.“

— Tove Jansson Finnish children's writer and illustrator 1914 - 2001

Love, Beauty, Way, Autumn

„Dear Mr. President,
Come take a walk with me.
Let's pretend we're just two people
And you're not better than me.
I'd like to ask you some questions
If we can speak honestly.What do you feel when you see
All the homeless on the street?
Who do you pray for at night
Before you go to sleep?
What do you feel
When you look in the mirror?
Are you proud?“

— Pink (singer) American singer-songwriter 1979

Dear Mr. President, featuring the Indigo Girls, written by Pink and Billy Mann
Song lyrics, I'm Not Dead (2006)

People, Feeling, Question, Sleep

„Listen,
if stars are still lit it means there is someone who needs them.
It means someone wants to love,
Why then do we feel so much pain and heaviness of heart?
are we waiting for something, regretting anything?
To whom I can strech out my hand in the somber desert?
Who will accompany me on the empty night?
Who will give me a fiery day?
Who will bring back the sea that left?
No hope here. Torment is certain.
Without sacredness in the emptiness of this world of ours,
the heart of man fades like a flower.
Suddenly, the shuddering of the heavens penetrating my soul,
Oh never let the parting sun, no star is ever lost we once have seen, the long rains will continue to fall.“

— Alexis Karpouzos 1967

Source: Song THE HEART OF MAN

Soul, Pain, Waiting, Making love

„The thought of suicide is a great consolation: by means of it one gets through many a dark night.“

— Friedrich Nietzsche German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist 1844 - 1900

Suicide

„Drink and dance and laugh and lie,
Love, the reeling midnight through,
For tomorrow we shall die!
(But, alas, we never do.)“

— Dorothy Parker American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist 1893 - 1967

Source: "The Flaw in Paganism" in Death and Taxes (1931)

Love, Lie, Drink, Dance

„I can’t believe how fast 20 years went by. I mean, this is crazy… To be standing here, standing on the court with my teammates behind me, and appreciate this journey that we’ve been along… I grew up a die heart—I mean it—a die heart Laker fan. Die heart. I mean, I knew everything about every players’ that had played here. So, to be drafted, and then traded to this organization, and to spend 20 years here, I mean, you can’t write something better than this… The thing that had me crackin’ me up all night long was, in fact, I go though 20 years of everybody screaming, ‘pass the ball!’ and I was like, ‘No passing!’ (laugh)… (I also have to thank) my family: my wife, Vanessa, my daughters, Natalia and Gianna. Thank you guys for your sacrifice… What can I say? Mamba Out!“

— Kobe Bryant American basketball player 1978 - 2020

A speech after Bryant's last game, 13 April 2016, posted on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg0mxPXIpLY&t=5s.

Family, Daughters, Heart, Guy

„Erik is not truly dead. He lives on within the souls of those who choose to listen to the music of the night.“

— Gaston Leroux, book The Phantom of the Opera

Source: The Phantom of the Opera

Music, Soul, Dead

„Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?'

'To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.'

'The dog did nothing in the night-time.'

'That was the curious incident,' remarked Sherlock Holmes.“

— Arthur Conan Doyle, book The Adventure of Silver Blaze

Source: Silver Blaze

Dogs, Time, Drawing

„How did it get so late so soon? It's night before it's afternoon. December is here before it's June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?“

— Dr. Seuss American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books 1904 - 1991

Time, Good Night

„My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But, ah, my foes, and, oh, my friends —
It gives a lovely light.“

— Edna St. Vincent Millay, book A Few Figs from Thistles

Misattributed
Source: Edna St. Vincent Millay, in "First Fig" from A Few Figs from Thistles (1920); said to be a motto Roald Dahl lived by.

Love, Light

„Mary is the great mother. She is the mother. That's what Mary is. Whether she existed or not, is not the point. She exists at least as a hyper-reality. She exists as the mother. What's the sacrifice of the mother? That's easy: if you're a mother who's worth her salt, you offer your son to be destroyed by the world. That's what you do. And that's what's going to happen. He's going to be born, he's going to suffer, he's going to have his trouble in life, he's going to have his illnesses, he's going to face his failures and catastrophes, and he's going to die. That's what's going to happen, and if you're awake you know that, and then you say, 'well, perhaps he will live in a way that will justify that.' And then you try to have that happen. And that's what makes you worthy of a statue like [The Pieta]. 'Is it right to bring a baby into this terrible world?' Well, every woman asks herself that question. Some say no, and they have their reasons. Mary answers 'yes' voluntarily. Mary is the archetype of the woman who answers yes to life voluntarily. Not because she is blind. She knows what's going to happen. So, she's the archetypal representation of the woman who says yes to life knowing full well what life is. She's not naive. She's not someone who got pregnant in the backseat of a 1957 Chevy during one night of half-drunk idiocy. Not that. She does so consciously. Consciously, knowing what's to come. And then she allows it to happen, which is a testament to mothers.“

— Jordan Peterson Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology 1962

Bible Series V: Cain and Abel: The Hostile Brothers
Concepts

Life, World, Way, Failure

„What is man’s life but love, love of self;
Man is dust, dust as his passion, dust as the beloved.Death, it is your great act of piety for man –
You take him to your house or he’d be left to himself.Death is a covenant between the lover and the beloved;
Death is a secret wedlock between being and non-being.Death harbors the hidden port of life’s ocean;
Death is helpless and a vision of beauty to itself.Death is the only witness of my life and your grace,
And O strange lord, of night and the crescent.“

— Ghani Khan Pakistani poet 1914 - 1996

Death, st. 8-12

Love, Life, Death, Secret

„Night creatures call.
The dead start to walk in their masquerade.
There's no escapin' the jaws of the alien this time (they're open wide).
This is the end of your life.“

— Michael Jackson American singer, songwriter and dancer 1958 - 2009

Thriller
Thriller (1982)

Life, Time, Dead

„A liberal is a man or a woman or a child who looks forward to a better day, a more tranquil night, and a bright, infinite future.“

— Leonard Bernstein American composer, conductor, author, music lecturer, and pianist 1918 - 1990

Leonard Bernstein, statement of 1953, quoted in A Wonderful Life : 50 Eulogies to Lift the Spirit (2006) by Cyrus M. Copeland, p. 190

Future

„She got me workin' day and night,
And I've been workin'
From sun-up to midnight.“

— Michael Jackson American singer, songwriter and dancer 1958 - 2009

Off the Wall (1979)

Sun

„You are the sun, you make me shine, or more like the stars, that twinkle at night. You are the moon that glows in my heart. You're my daytime, my night-time, my world…you are my life.“

— Michael Jackson American singer, songwriter and dancer 1958 - 2009

You Are My Life
Invincible (2001)

Life, World, Star, Time

„I was moved to tears by the thought that from being nobody the night before, I had become somebody.“

— Milkha Singh Indian track and field athlete 1935

While at the EME Army center in 1951 in the cross country race he was declared 6 in the top 10 who among the 500 who ran. Quoted in ‘Flying Sikh' takes a nostalgic jog down memory lane, 6 April 2012, 13 December 2013, The Hindu http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-sports/flying-sikh-takes-a-nostalgic-jog-down-memory-lane/article3285904.ece,

Tear

„One night comes suddenly, I will add your kingdom to my empire.“

— Mehmed II Ottoman sultan 1432 - 1481

Source: Freely, John (The Grand Turk)

„After 7 long years, Finally, FINALLY, FINALLY, The Rock has come back to Anaheim! Which means FINALLY, The Rock has come back to Monday Night Raw! Which means FINALLY, The Rock HAS COME BACK… home.“

— Dwayne Johnson American actor and professional wrestler 1972

The Rock's return to WWE Raw as host of WrestleMania XXVII (14 February, 2011) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8ejiG5-BtA&feature=related.

Home

„Pulsing like a beacon through the days and nights, the birthplace of the fortunate sends out its invisible waves of recollection. It always has and it always will, until even the last of us come home.“

— Clive James Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet, translator and memoirist 1939 - 2019

Closing lines, p. 174
Memoirs, Unreliable Memoirs (1980)
Context: As I begin this last paragraph, outside my window a misty afternoon drizzle gently but inexorably soaks the City of London. Down there in the street I can see umbrellas commiserating with each other. In Sydney Harbour, twelve thousand miles away and ten hours from now, the yachts will be racing on the crushed diamond water under a sky the texture of powdered sapphires. It would be churlish not to concede that the same abundance of natural blessings which gave us the energy to leave has every right to call us back. All in, the whippy's taken. Pulsing like a beacon through the days and nights, the birthplace of the fortunate sends out its invisible waves of recollection. It always has and it always will, until even the last of us come home.

Home

„For every dark night, there's a brighter day. “

— Tupac Shakur rapper and actor 1971 - 1996

Sad, Hope

„My child, let your life come into the world of darkness
like a spark of light, without flicker and pure,
and thank them in silence. You know,
my child, they are cruel in their greed and envy,
their words are disguised knives thirsting for blood.
But do not be afraid, my child, go and stand in their hearts,
and let your gentle eyes fall on them like the forgiving serenity of the night.
My child, let them see your face and so they know it
meaning of all things, let them love and love one another.
Go, at sunrise, open and lift up your heart like a blooming flower,
and at sunset, bend your head and silently complete the worship of the day.
Remember, my child, gods and demons, ghosts and elves are fragments of one,
built by the hand of the abyss.
So, move on, go to the shore of the vast darkness,
there, is the Great Meeting of Children,
there, the sea gives a smile to the beach,
there, sing the waves facing death.“

— Alexis Karpouzos 1967

Source: https://dailywisdomwords.com/community-poetry/my-child/

God, Light, Silence, Children

„The 80's and 90's were incredibly glorious!
It was all about glamour and fabulocity…
I would never change it for anything…amazing fetes every night…I am very fortunate to have been a big part of it all.
"I was a thread in the weaved quilt of an Era…"“

— Stephie Pahlavi Zan

Change, Parting

„I wonder if I've been changed in the night. Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!“

— Lewis Carroll, book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Source: Alice in Wonderland

World, Feeling, Question, Thinking

„I leave you my portrait so that you will have my presence all the days and nights that I am away from you.“

— Frida Kahlo Mexican painter 1907 - 1954

„Do not pursue what is illusory - property and position: all that is gained at the expense of your nerves decade after decade and can be confiscated in one fell night. Live with a steady superiority over life - don't be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn after happiness; it is after all, all the same: the bitter doesn't last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing.“

— Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Russian writer 1918 - 2008

Life, Happiness

„I turned silences and nights into words. What was unutterable, I wrote down. I made the whirling world stand still.“

— Arthur Rimbaud French Decadent and Symbolist poet 1854 - 1891

Source: A Season in Hell/The Drunken Boat

World, Silence

„Ever get the feeling you've been cheated? Good night!“

— John Lydon English singer, songwriter, and musician 1956

At the end of the last Sex Pistols concert, Winterland Theater, San Francisco, California (14 January 1978)

Feeling, Cheating

„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.“

— 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...

People, World, Dreams, Sleep

„Many solemn nights
Blond moon, we stand and marvel…
Sleeping our noons away“

— Bashō Matsuo Japanese poet 1644 - 1694

Source: Japanese Haiku

Sleep

„Some are born to sweet delight, Some are born to endless night.“

— William Blake English Romantic poet and artist 1757 - 1827

„There can be no rebirth without a dark night of the soul, a total annihilation of all that you believed in and thought that you were.“

— Hazrat Inayat Khan Indian Sufi 1882 - 1927

Source: Thinking Like The Universe: The Sufi Path Of Awakening

Soul

„Whatever causes night in our souls may leave stars. Cimourdain was full of virtues and truth, but they shine out of a dark background.“

— Victor Hugo French poet, novelist, and dramatist 1802 - 1885

Part 2, Book 1, Ch. 2
Variant translation: What makes night within us may leave stars.
Source: Ninety-Three (1874)
Context: Cimourdain was a pure-minded but gloomy man. He had "the absolute" within him. He had been a priest, which is a solemn thing. Man may have, like the sky, a dark and impenetrable serenity; that something should have caused night to fall in his soul is all that is required. Priesthood had been the cause of night within Cimourdain. Once a priest, always a priest.
Whatever causes night in our souls may leave stars. Cimourdain was full of virtues and truth, but they shine out of a dark background.

Truth, Soul, Star

„I am a forest, and a night of dark trees: but he who is not afraid of my darkness, will find banks full of roses under my cypresses.“

— Friedrich Nietzsche, book Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Source: Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Tree

„You are brave, kicking a chained prisoner. They must sing heroic ballads about you on winter nights!" (Alanna)“

— Tamora Pierce American writer of fantasy novels for children 1954

Winter, Singing

„The world know it not; but you, Autumn, I confess it: your wind at night-fall stabs deep into my heart“

— Murasaki Shikibu, book The Tale of Genji

Source: The Tale of Genji

World, Autumn, Heart

„Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell.“

— Edna St. Vincent Millay American poet 1892 - 1950

World, Hell, Heartbreaking, Missing You

„"What do you do from morning to night?" "I endure myself."“

— Emil M. Cioran, book The Trouble With Being Born

The Trouble With Being Born (1973)
Source: The Trouble with Being Born

„There are those who love to get dirty and fix things. They drink coffee at dawn, beer after work. And those who stay clean, just appreciate things. At breakfast they have milk and juice at night. There are those who do both, they drink tea.“

— Gary Snyder American poet 1930

Love, Coffee, Drink, Beer

„It's always better to attack than to defend," Coram had told her when they talked about fencing late at night. "Always. Ye don't win with defense--ye only hold the other feller off, or wear him down. Attack and have done with it!“

— Tamora Pierce, book Alanna: The First Adventure

Source: Alanna: The First Adventure

„I die without seeing the dawn brighten over my native land. You who have it to see, welcome it--and forget not those who have fallen during the night!“

— José Rizal, book Noli Me Tángere

Noli me Tangere
Source: Noli Me Tángere

Forgetting

„If I had to tell you how humans made their way to Earth, it would go like this: In the beginning, there was nothing at all but the moon and the sun. And the moon wanted to come out during the day, but there was something so much brighter that seemed to fill up all those hours. The moon grew hungry, thinner and thinner, until she was just a slice of herself, and her tips were as sharp as a knife. By accident, because that is the way most things happen, she poked a hole in the night and out spilled a million stars, like a fountain of tears.

Horrified, the moon tried to swallow them up. And sometimes this worked, because she got fatter and rounder.. But mostly it didn't, because there were just so many. The stars kept coming, until they made the sky so bright that the sun got jealous. He invited the stars to his side of the world, where it was always bright. What he didn't tell them, though, was that in the daytime, they'd never be seen. So the stupid ones leaped from the sky to the ground, and they froze under the weight of their own foolishness.

The moon did her best. She carved each of these blocks of sorrow into a man or a woman. She spent the rest of her time watching out so that her other stars wouldn't fall. She spent the rest of her time holding onto whatever scraps she had left.“

— Jodi Picoult Author 1966

Stupidity, World, Way, Star

„I like too many things and get all confused and hung-up running from one falling star to another till I drop. This is the night, what it does to you. I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion.“

— Jack Kerouac, book On the Road

Part Two, Ch. 4
On the Road (1957)

Star

„And I wanna kiss you, make you feel alright
I'm just so tired to share my nights
I wanna cry and I wanna love
But all my tears have been used up
On another love, another love
All my tears have been used up“

— Tom Odell British singer-songwriter 1990

Another Love
Lyrics, Long Way Down

Love, Feeling, Kiss, Tear

„Alright sir,
Sure I'll have another one, it's early.
Three olives, shake it up, I like it dirty (dirty).
Tequila for my friend it makes her flirty (flirty).
Trust me.
I'm the instigator of underwear,
Showing up here and there uh oh (oh no).
I'm always on a mission from the get go.
So what if it's only 1 o'clock in the afternoon?
It's never too soon to send out all the invitations to the last night“

— Pink (singer) American singer-songwriter 1979

of your life
Bad Influence, written by Pink, Billy Mann, Butch Walker, and Robin Mortensen Lynch & Niklas Olovson
Song lyrics, Funhouse (2008)

Life

„On Saturday night, I would see men lusting after half-naked girls dancing at the carnival, and on Sunday morning when I was playing organ for tent-show evangelists at the other end of the carnival lot, I would see these same men sitting in the pews with their wives and children, asking God to forgive them and purge them of carnal desires. And the next Saturday they'd be back at the carnival or some other place of indulgence. I knew then that the Christian church thrives on hypocrisy, and that man's carnal nature will out no matter how much it is purged or scoured by any white-light religion.“

— Anton LaVey, book The Satanic Bible

As quoted in the Introduction by Burton H. Wolfe
The Satanic Bible (1969)

Men, God, Children, Religion

„In the bathtub. My dad came in and said, "Guess who they want to play Harry Potter?" I think I said the name of another actor, because I was sure it wasn't me. Then he said, "No, it's you," and I started to cry with joy. That night, I woke up at 2 in the morning and woke up mom and dad and asked, "Am I dreaming? Will I really play Harry Potter?"“

— Daniel Radcliffe English actor 1989

About getting the part of Harry Potter http://www.danradcliffe.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23&Itemid=28

Dreams, Moms, Thinking, Joy

„With Romeo and Juliet, you're talking about two people who meet one night, and get married the same night. I believe in love at first sight-but it hasn't happened to me yet.“

— Leonardo DiCaprio American actor and film producer 1974

http://www.popmonk.com/actors/leonardo-dicaprio/quotes-leonardo-dicaprio.htm

Love, People

„I’d made a family friendly game about a beaver before this, when I went to put it online it got torn apart by a few prominent reviewers. People said that the main character looked like a scary animatronic animal. I was heartbroken and was ready to give up on game-making. Then one night something just snapped in me, and I thought to myself- I bet I can make something a lot scarier than that.“

— Scott Cawthon American independent video game designer 1971

People, Family, Game, Animals

„Sprinting from one shady patch to another to escape the blistering heat of the sun on my journey to school
Felling the massacre on that fearsome night when most of my family was slaughtered
racing trains for fun
outrunning the police when I was caught stealing in Shahdra
leaving every one behind in my first race as an army jawan so that I could get an extra glass of milk
surging past my competitors in Tokyo when I was declared Asia’s best athlete
Running in Pakistan and being hailed as "The Flying Sikh."“

— Milkha Singh Indian track and field athlete 1935

The Race of My Life: An Autobiography Milkha Singh (2013)

School, Family, Sun, Past

„A good idea will keep you awake during the morning, but a great idea will keep you awake during the night.“

— Marilyn vos Savant US American magazine columnist, author and lecturer 1946

As quoted in What Type Am I? : Discover Who You Really Are (1998) by Renee Baron, p. 110

Idea, Good Night

„As when Eolus heaven's fair face deforms, Enwrapp'd in tempest and a night of storms; Astonish'd ocean feels the wild uproar, The refluent surges beat the sounding shore; Or thick as leaves in Autumn's golden reign“

— Phillis Wheatley American poet 1753 - 1784

1770s, To His Excellency, George Washington (1775)

Feeling, Autumn

„I'm proud that I was able to start with nothing, plan it, and have it work as perfectly as it did… I sleep clearly every night.“

— Paul Tibbets United States Air Force pilot 1915 - 2007

1975 interview http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7073441.stm

Sleep

„You're my bondage and my freedom,
my flesh burning like a naked summer night,
you're my country.
Hazel eyes marbled green,
you're awesome, beautiful, and brave,
you're my desire always just out of reach.“

— Nâzım Hikmet Turkish poet 1902 - 1963

From You're

Beauty, Freedom, Summer, Country

„Because of you, each day is a melon slice
smelling sweetly of earth
Because of you, all fruits reach out to me
as if I were the sun.
Thanks to you, I live on the honey of hope.
You are the reason my heart beats.
Because of you, even my loneliest nights
smile like an Anatolian kilim on your wall.
Should my journey end before I reach my city,
I've rested in a rose garden thanks to you.
Because of you I don't let death enter,
clothed in the softest garments,
and knocking on my door with songs
calling me to the greatest place.“

— Nâzım Hikmet Turkish poet 1902 - 1963

From Because of You (29 August 1960)

Death, Smile, Hope, Sun

„The Rock: I have so much love and respect for the fans. I'll never forget where I came from. I love the business. I grew up in the business. And everyone always asks me, from Letterman to Stone Phillips, what I miss about wrestling. Hands down, I miss the interaction with the fans. Outside of the ring I loved it, too. I mean, how hard is it to sign an autograph? Don't be an asshole to your fans. And there's many [in WWE] that won't, which is bullshit. But inside the ring, just that energy and feeding off that energy is great. There's something so special about it. And every night I would just have a blueprint of what I would say and rely so much on ad-libbing and waiting to see what happens when I get out there and let it materialize organically and see what happens. Every night was a different crowd and they gave me so much energy, and I'll always love that and always miss that for sure.“

— Dwayne Johnson American actor and professional wrestler 1972

Interview with WWE.com (October 2005).

Love, Business, Waiting, Forgetting

„You dare not think that you ever might experience your self differently: free instead of cowed; open instead of tactical; loving openly instead of like a thief in the night.“

— Wilhelm Reich, book Listen, Little Man!

Listen, Little Man! (1948)
Context: "What right do you have to tell me things?" I can see this question in your apprehensive look. I hear this question from your impertinent mouth, Little Man. You are afraid to look at yourself, you are afraid of criticism, Little Man, just as you are afraid of the power they promise you. You would not know how to use this power. You dare not think that you ever might experience your self differently: free instead of cowed; open instead of tactical; loving openly instead of like a thief in the night. You despise yourself Little Man. You say: "Who am I to have an opinion of my own, to determine my own life and to declare the world to be mine?" You are right: Who are you to make a claim to your life?

Love, Thinking

„Your lack of common sense (can be well judged from the fact) that the evidence of two women is equal to one man, that is a proof of the lack of common sense, and you spend some nights (and days) in which you do not offer prayer and in the month of Ramadan (during the days) you do not observe fast, that is a failing in religion.“

— Muhammad Arabian religious leader and the founder of Islam 570 - 632

Sahih Muslim, Book 001, Number 0142
Sunni Hadith
Context: It is narrated on the authority of 'Abdullah b. Umar that the Messenger of Allah observed: O womenfolk, you should give charity and ask much forgiveness for I saw you in bulk amongst the dwellers of Hell. A wise lady among them said: Why is it, Messenger of Allah, that our folk is in bulk in Hell? Upon this the Holy Prophet observed: You curse too much and are ungrateful to your spouses. I have seen none lacking in common sense and failing in religion but (at the same time) robbing the wisdom of the wise, besides you. Upon this the woman remarked: What is wrong with our common sense and with religion? He (the Holy Prophet) observed: Your lack of common sense (can be well judged from the fact) that the evidence of two women is equal to one man, that is a proof of the lack of common sense, and you spend some nights (and days) in which you do not offer prayer and in the month of Ramadan (during the days) you do not observe fast, that is a failing in religion. This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Abu Tahir with this chain of transmitters.

Women, Religion, Sense

„Our road not marked on maps.
Fugitives of the centuries,
our origin is the breathing
and our destination is exhalation,
A thousand suns are flowing in our blood,
and the vision of infinity is always chasing us.
The form cannot tame us,
Our days are a fire and our nights a sea.“

— Alexis Karpouzos 1967

Source: https://hellopoetry.com/alexis-karpouzos/

Sun, Sea

„It all comes down to the last person you think of at night, that's where the heart is.“

— Charles Bukowski American writer 1920 - 1994

Original: Tutto si riduce all'ultima persona a cui pensi la notte, è lì che si trova il cuore.
Source: In Una sorcia bianca – nella raccolta Storie di ordinaria follia

Personality, Heart, Thinking

„Our civilization has fallen out of touch with night. With lights, we drive the holiness and beauty of night back to the forests and the sea; the little villages, the crossroads even, will have none of it. Are modern folk, perhaps, afraid of night? Do they fear that vast serenity, the mystery of infinite space, the austerity of stars?“

— Henry Beston, book Northern Farm

Source: Northern Farm

Fear, Beauty, Star, Light

„I saved a girl from being attacked last night. I controlled myself.“

— Rodney Dangerfield American actor and comedian 1921 - 2004

Variant: I saved a girl from being attacked last night. I controlled myself.

Girl

„I opened the door and blinked out into the bright hall. I had the impression it wasn't night and it wasn't day, but some lurid third interval that had suddenly slipped between them and would never end.“

— Sylvia Plath, book The Bell Jar

Source: The Bell Jar

„In the silence of night I have often wished for just a few words of love from one man, rather than the applause of thousands of people.“

— Judy Garland actress, singer and vaudevillian from the United States 1922 - 1969

Love, People, Silence, Depressing

„This is not good. This is not right. My feet stick out of bed all night. And when I pull them in, oh dear! My head sticks out of bed out here!“

— Dr. Seuss American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books 1904 - 1991

„Glory follows afflictions, not as the day follows the night but as the spring follows the winter; for the winter prepares the earth for the spring, so do afflictions sanctified prepare the soul for glory.“

— Richard Sibbes English theologian 1577 - 1635

Soul, Spring, Affliction, Winter

„I am not to speak to you, I am to think of you when I sit alone or
wake at night alone,
I am to wait, I do not doubt I am to meet you again,
I am to see to it that I do not lose you.“

— Walt Whitman, book Fulles d'herba

Source: Leaves of Grass

Thinking, Waiting

„Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.“

— William Shakespeare, book Romeo and Juliet

Variant: Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say goodnight till it be morrow.
Source: Romeo and Juliet

Parting, Good Night, Goodbye

„I’d ruin any day, all my days, for those long nights with you, and I did.“

— Daniel Handler, book Why We Broke Up

Source: Why We Broke Up

„So here is my story, may it bring
Some smiles and a tear or so,
It happened once upon a time,
Far away, and long ago,
Outside the night wind keens and wails,
Come listen to me, the Teller of Tales!“

— Brian Jacques, book Lord Brocktree

Source: Lord Brocktree

Smile, Tear, Time

„Do you know what it means to come home at night to a woman who'll give you a little love, a little affection, a little tenderness? It means you're in the wrong house, that's what it means.“

— Henny Youngman American comedian 1906 - 1998

Love, Home, Housing

„Ceaseless as the interminable voices of the bell-cricket, all night till dawn my tears flow.“

— Murasaki Shikibu, book The Tale of Genji

Source: Tale of Genji, The Tale of Genji, trans. Arthur Waley, Ch. 1

Tear

„You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.“

— Saul Bellow Canadian-born American writer 1915 - 2005

As quoted in The #1 New York Times Bestseller (1992) by John Bear, p. 93
General sources

Change

„There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.“

— George Carlin, book Brain Droppings

Source: Brain Droppings

„Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
in the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?“

— William Blake English Romantic poet and artist 1757 - 1827

St. 1
1790s, The Tyger (1794)

Fear

„The sky hides the night behind it and shelters the people beneath from the horror that lies above.“

— Paul Bowles American composer, writer, translator 1910 - 1999

People

„Night is a time of rigor, but also of mercy. There are truths which one can see only when it’s dark“

— Isaac Bashevis Singer Polish-born Jewish-American author 1902 - 1991

Source: Teibele And Her Demon

Truth, Time

„… Night has chosen thee; thy death will be thy birth. Night calls to thee; harken to Her sweet voice. Your destiny awaits you at the House of Night.“

— P. C. Cast, book Marked

Source: Marked

Death, Birth, Housing

„But let me tell you this: sometimes at night, when I look up at the stars, an see the whole sky jus laid out there, don't you think I ain't rememberin it all. I still got dreams like anybody else, an ever so often, I am thinkin about how things might of been. An then, all of a sudden, I'm forty, fifty, sixty years ole, you know?
Well, so what? I may be a idiot, but most of the time, anyway, I tried to do the right thing-- an dreams is jus dreams, ain't they? So whatever else has happened, I am figgerin this: I can always look back an say, at least I ain't led no hum-drum life.
You know what I mean?“

— Winston Groom, Forrest Gump

Source: Forrest Gump

Life, Dreams, Star, Thinking

„The moon like a flower
In heaven's high bower,
With silent delight,
Sits and smiles on the night.“

— William Blake, Night

Night, st. 1
1780s, Songs of Innocence (1789–1790)

Smile, Flowers

„You must read, you must persevere, you must sit up nights, you must inquire, and exert the utmost power of your mind. If one way does not lead to the desired meaning, take another; if obstacles arise, then still another; until, if your strength holds out, you will find that clear which at first looked dark.“

— Giovanni Boccaccio Italian author and poet 1313 - 1375

Way, Reading, Perseverance

„Come, gentle night; come, loving, black-browed night;
Give me my Romeo; and, when I shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night…“

— William Shakespeare, book Romeo and Juliet

Variant: When he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
Source: Romeo and Juliet

Love, World, Star