Weariness can snore upon the flint, when restive sloth finds the down pillow hard.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
And if tonight my soul may find her peace in sleep, and sink in good oblivion, and in the morning wake like a new-opened flower then I have been dipped again in God, and new-created.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Critic
The repose of sleep refreshes only the body. It rarely sets the soul at rest. The repose of the night does not belong to us. It is not the possession of our being. Sleep opens within us an inn for phantoms. In the morning we must sweep out the shadows.
—Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962) French Philosopher, Psychoanalyst, Poet
There is nowhere in the world where sleep is so deep as in the libraries of the House of Commons.
—Henry Channon (1897–1958) American-Born British Mp
Oh sleep! It is a gentle thing, Beloved from pole to pole.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
Sleep is so like death, says Sir Thomas Browne, “that I dare not trust myself to it without prayer.” They both, when they seize the body, leave the soul at liberty; and wise is he that remembers of both, that they can be made safe and happy only by virtue.
—William Temple (1881–1944) English Theologian, Archbishop
Those who have compared our life to a dream were right…. We sleeping wake, and waking sleep.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
The city sleeps and the country sleeps, the living sleep for their time, the dead sleep for their time, the old husband sleeps by his wife and the young husband sleeps by his wife; and these tend inward to me, and I tend outward to them, and such as it is to be of these more or less I am, and of these one and all I weave the song of myself.
—Walt Whitman (1819–92) American Poet, Essayist, Journalist
When to soft Sleep we give ourselves away,
And in a dream as in a fairy bark
Drift on and on through the enchanted dark
To purple daybreak—little thought we pay
To that sweet bitter world we know by day.
—Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836–1907) American Writer, Poet, Critic, Editor
Sleep, thou repose of all things; thou gentlest of the duties; thou peace of the mind, from which care flies; who dost soothe the hearts of men wearied with the toils of the day, and refittest them for labor.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
Health is the first muse, and sleep is the condition to produce it.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
One hour’s sleep before midnight, is worth two after.
—Common Proverb
For sleep, one needs endless depths of blackness to sink into; daylight is too shallow, it will not cover one.
—Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906–2001) American Aviator, Author
In Sleep we lie all naked and alone, in Sleep we are united at the heart of night and darkness, and we are strange and beautiful asleep; for we are dying the darkness and we know no death.
—Thomas Wolfe (1900–38) American Novelist
Fatigue is the best pillow.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
SLEEP – Those little slices of death, how I loathe them.
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49) American Poet
Sleep … peace of the soul, who puttest care to flight.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
Sleep is pain’s easiest salve, and doth fulfill all the offices of death, except to kill.
—John Donne (1572–1631) English Poet, Cleric
Sleeping alone, except under doctor’s orders, does much harm. Children will tell you how lonely it is sleeping alone. If possible, you should always sleep with someone you love. You both recharge your mutual batteries free of charge.
—Marlene Dietrich (1901–92) German-American Film Actress, Cabaret Performer
We are not hypocrites in our sleep.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Sleep is sweet to the labouring man.
—John Bunyan (1628–88) English Puritan Writer, Preacher
O bed! O bed! Delicious bed! That heaven on earth to the weary head.
—Thomas Hood (1799–1845) English Poet, Humorist
Finish each day before you begin the next, and interpose a solid wall of sleep between the two. This you cannot do without temperance.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Only those who are asleep make no mistakes.
—Ingvar Kamprad (1926–2018) Swedish Businessman
Methought I heard a voice cry Sleep no more,
Macbeth does murder sleep the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave of care
The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Every closed eye is not sleeping, and every open eye is not seeing.
—Bill Cosby (b.1937) American Actor, Comedian, Activist, Producer, Author
God gives sleep to the bad, in order that the good may be undisturbed.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din) (c.1213–91) Persian Poet
I am convinced that a light supper, a good night’s sleep, and a fine morning, have sometimes made a hero of the same man, who, by an indigestion, a restless night, and rainy morning, would have proved a coward.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
Tired nature’s sweet restorer, balmy sleep; he, like the world, his ready visit pays where fortune smiles—the wretched he forsakes.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
Even where sleep is concerned, too much is a bad thing.
—Homer (751–651 BCE) Ancient Greek Poet
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