Humans have a peculiar relationship with sleep.
Instead of seeing it as nothing more than an absolutely necessary fuel for life like our fellow animals, humans view the act of sleeping as one of life’s great mysteries.
To some of us, it is dreamland, comfort, rest and rejuvenation, meditation and some much needed alone time. But for those less lucky, sleep represents insomnia, worry, tossing and turning, and nightmares.
We’re all obsessed with sleep — just like sex, you’re either getting it or you’re not.
At the moment, the world is currently in a sleep renaissance. Where we used to be proud of our ability to get by on the absolute bare minimum rest (remember Margaret Thatcher, proud of her 4 hour sleep routine?), there’s a change afoot in how we view bedtime.
Now, the best sleep you can have is more sleep.
CEOs and thought leaders are ‘fessing up to their 8-hour sleep schedules and there’s more ‘sleep tech’ than ever in the world of startups and entrepreneurship.
But sleep still remains a beautiful mystery — and a concept that many a writer, artist and power-broker have ruminated on over the years.
Let’s take a look at some of the best ever sleep quotes from literature…
Put my head under my pillow, and let the quiet put things where they are supposed to be.
(Stephen Chbosky)
You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.
(Dr Seuss)
Sleep is that golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.
(Thomas Dekker)
Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.
(Mahatma Gandhi)
I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I’m awake, you know?
(Ernest Hemingway)
Sleep, those little slices of death — how I loathe them.
(Edgar Allan Poe)
What would an ocean be without a monster lurking in the dark? It would be like sleep without dreams.
(Werner Herzog)
Sleep is the best meditation.
(Dalai Lama)
The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep.
(WC Fields)
There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.
(Homer)
Sleep is not on good terms with broken hearts. It will have nothing to do with them.
(Christopher Pike)
There is no sunrise so beautiful that it is worth waking me up to see it.
(Mindy Kaling)
What’s your favourite sleep quote?
