Wakefulness Quotes

“There are hours for rest, and hours for wakefulness; nights for sobriety and nights for drunkenness—(if only so that possession of the former allows us to discern the latter when we have it; for sad as it is, no human body can be happily drunk all the time).”
― Roman Payne, Rooftop Soliloquy

“When life is foggy, path is unclear and mind is dull, remember your breath. It has the power to give you the peace. It has the power to resolve the unsolved equations of life.”
― Amit Ray, Beautify your Breath - Beautify your Life

“I never was so immensely tickled by anything I had ever said before. I actually woke up twice during the night, and laughed till the bed shook.”
― George Grossmith, The Diary of a Nobody

“In the dead of night I stirred. Wakefulness flowed back into me. I was a cup full of sorrow, but that sorrow was stilled, like a pain that abates as long as one does not move.”
― Robin Hobb, Fool's Quest

“Write about the dream you see during wakefulness.”
― Debasish Mridha

“The repugnance to what must ensue almost immediately, and the uncertainty, were dreadful, he said; but worst of all was the idea, 'What should I do if I were not to die now? What if I were to return to life again? What an eternity of days, and all mine! How I should grudge and count up every minute of it, so as to waste not a single instant!' He said that this thought weighed so upon him and became such a terrible burden upon his brain that he could not bear it, and wished they would shoot him quickly and have done with it."

The prince paused and all waited, expecting him to go on again and finish the story.

"Is that all?" asked Aglaya.

"All? Yes," said the prince, emerging from a momentary reverie.

"And why did you tell us this?"

"Oh, I happened to recall it, that's all! It fitted into the conversation—"

"You probably wish to deduce, prince," said Alexandra, "that moments of time cannot be reckoned by money value, and that sometimes five minutes are worth priceless treasures. All this is very praiseworthy; but may I ask about this friend of yours, who told you the terrible experience of his life? He was reprieved, you say; in other words, they did restore to him that 'eternity of days.' What did he do with these riches of time? Did he keep careful account of his minutes?"

"Oh no, he didn't! I asked him myself. He said that he had not lived a bit as he had intended, and had wasted many, and many a minute."

"Very well, then there's an experiment, and the thing is proved; one cannot live and count each moment; say what you like, but one cannot."

"That is true," said the prince, "I have thought so myself. And yet, why shouldn't one do it?"

"You think, then, that you could live more wisely than other people?" said Aglaya.

"I have had that idea."

"And you have it still?"

"Yes — I have it still," the prince replied.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Idiot

“The rain is, in a sense,
The sole sad friend of those who find themselves
Thinking, wide awake, until the dawn,
Who, in bed, alone, with fevered hands,
Listen to it, soothed. They like the company
Of its faint moan across the sleeping plain,
Its rustling in the garden all night long.

- On the Great Grey Road (Sur ce Grand Chemin Gris...)”
― Alain-Fournier, Poems

“When I finally lie down, I find sleep elusive. The same thoughts that trouble me during the day are only compounded by the stillness of night.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Well of Ascension

“May your sleep be your death, and your wakefulness be your heaven.”
― Anthony Liccione

“The more wakeful a man is to the things which surround him, the more asleep is he, and his waking is worse than his sleep.”
― Idries Shah

“To know that one is dreaming
is to be no longer perfectly asleep.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

“Life is what you make out of it consciously.”
― Roshan Sharma

“Appreciate the struggles as opportunities to wake up.”
― Jeff Bridges, The Dude and the Zen Master

“We cultivate inner stillness through the practice of contemplation or awareness. Behind the normal goings-on of everyday life, we try to have a consistent wakefulness. We learn to watch what we are thinking, what other people are thinking, and what is the spiritual truth of any given situation. We live in two realms. One is the visible human realm. The other is the invisible spiritual realm. This is not obvious to anyone except those who do the same thing. Then it is instantly recognisable.”
― Donna Goddard, Pittown

“It took me some time to realize I wasn’t experiencing my experience.”
― Katherine Thanas, The Truth of This Life: Zen Teachings on Loving the World as It Is

“More and more you empty your mind, more and more you come closer to the spirit in the body.”
― Roshan Sharma

“Physical body is just an instrument, through which you experience life. You have the awareness field, along with the physical body to experience life, while the entire major functions of the physical body, is performed by the subtle strings of the soul.”
― Roshan Sharma

“With the known, you simply repeat the process. With the unknown, you access the new doorways to life.”
― Roshan Sharma

“I had a wakefulness that I could not shake, and I was still drunk.”
― Jeff VanderMeer, Annihilation

“Happily the inhabitants of the Five Towns in that era were passably pleased with themselves; and they never even suspected that they were not quite modern and not quite awake. They thought that the intellectual, the industrial, and the social movements had gone about as far as these movements could go, and they were amazed at their own progress.”
― Arnold Bennett, The Old Wives' Tale

“I’m fearless as long as my eyes are open. It doesn’t matter if I belong here or if I never truly gel with humanity. I’m in this game because it’s rich and I’m not going to bed tonight because who knows how much longer I’ll have to spend these endless coins of enlightenment.”
― Laurie Perez, The Look of Amie Martine

“Patience is essential on the spiritual path, but delay is not. Patience invites the timeless back in, and practicing becomes a waking game, not a waiting game, because patience is the state of full wakefulness. (Rodney Smith)”
― Melvin McLeod (editor), The Best Buddhist Writing 2011