Quotations on Sleep

Sleep Outfitters presents: Quotations on Sleep

“A professor is someone who talks in someone else's sleep.” (W. H. Auden, poet)

We understand most folks probably don’t think about sleep as much as we do at Sleep Outfitters, but we wondered when people do think about it, what exactly do they think? So, we looked up some quotes, and put what we found into four categories: health, humor, problem-solving and philosophy. Some of the categories overlap, but quotes afford us a look into other perspectives on sleep.

We believe diet, exercise and sleep are inextricably linked in providing us all a healthy, productive life. These quotes on health would seem to support that notion.

Health

“Half an hour of exercise in the morning makes for better interactions all day. Then a sound night of sleep gives me energy to tackle the next day. I am a more active parent, a better spouse, and more engaged in my work when I eat, move, and sleep well.” (Tom Rath, author “Eat, Move, Sleep”)

“Our obsession with speed, with cramming more and more into every minute, means that we race through life instead of actually living it. Our health, diet and relationships suffer. We make mistakes at work. We struggle to relax, to enjoy the moment, even to get a decent night's sleep.” (Carl Honore’, Canadian journalist)

“Sleep makes people calmer, more alert, less fearful - just plain happier, or so I see around me and in me. I am sure that if this great nation were to concentrate on getting more sleep, we would be a happier, more confident people, and that by itself would be a major achievement.” (Ben Stein, writer, actor, political commentator)

“We engineered activity out of our lives in the name of convenience. We created foods that put fried, fatty, sweet, and salty ahead of fresh, natural, and healthy. We quickly sacrifice sleep to work longer hours in pursuit of the American Dream. Even when we do these things with good intentions, they have life-threatening consequences.” (Tom Rath, author “Eat, Move, Sleep”)

“That we are not much sicker and much madder than we are is due exclusively to that most blessed and blessing of all natural graces, sleep.” (Aldous Huxley, author)

“Sleep has been provided by nature to do the body's healing work, and it takes seven or eight hours for this process to happen. Commit to getting at least seven to eight hours of good quality sleep every night to keep your body and hormones in balance.” (Suzanne Somers, actress and fitness enthusiast)

Humor

“Insomniacs are snore losers.” Okay, we just made that up, but there is humor to be found on the subject of sleep. Just take a look at these quotes.

“Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone.” (Anthony Burgess, author and composer)

“I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I'm awake, you know?” (Ernest Hemingway, novelist)

“The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep.” (W. C. Fields, actor)

“When I woke up this morning my girlfriend asked me, 'Did you sleep good?' I said 'No, I made a few mistakes.'“(Steven Wright, comedian)

“The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep.” (Woody Allen, director)

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” (Warren Zevon, songwriter, musician)

Problem-Solving

“It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.” (John Steinbeck, novelist)

“Metaphorically speaking, of course, if I put a problem behind my pillow and fall asleep, very often because my brain went to sleep with that idea or the problem alive, very often in the middle of the night I wake up, and I wake up with a solution or with a direction of solution.” (Philippe Petit, high-wire artist)

“He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.” (Aeschylus, Greek playwright)

“An important part of any focusing regimen is to set aside time at the end of the day - just before going to sleep - to acknowledge your successes, review your goals, focus on your successful future, and make specific plans for what you want to accomplish the next day.” (Jack Canfield, author)

Philosophy

True silence is the rest of the mind, and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment. (William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania)

“Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.” (William Blake, poet)

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” (Virginia Woolf, author)

“Life is something to do when you can't get to sleep.” (Fran Lebowitz, author)

“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” (George Orwell, author)

“How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads; to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams.” (Bram Stoker, author of Dracula)

If you’re sleeping well, you might feel blessed. If you are not, you might seek a doctor’s advice. Or maybe just a new mattress.