William Shakespeare Quotes About Sleep

• O sleep! O gentle sleep! Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down And steep my senses in forgetfulness? Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs, Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee, And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber, Than in the perfum'd chambers of the great, Under the canopies of costly state, And lull'd with sound of sweetest melody?

  William Shakespeare

  Nature, Sleep, Night

  'Henry IV, Part 2' (1597) act 3, sc. 1, l. 5

• We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep.

  William Shakespeare

  Life, Good Night, Dream

  'The Tempest' (1611) act 4, sc. 1, l. 148

• To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune, Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles, And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep No more; and by a sleep, to say we end The Heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks That Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die to sleep, To sleep, perchance to Dream; Aye, there's the rub.

  William Shakespeare

  Death, Suicide, Dream

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 3, sc. 1, l. 56

• Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more!
  Macbeth does murder sleep', the innocent sleep,
  Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleeve 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

  Hurt, Sleep, Insomnia

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 2, sc. 2, l. 36

• To die, to sleep - To sleep, perchance to dream - ay, there's the rub, For in this sleep of death what dreams may come.

  William Shakespeare

  Death, Dream, Halloween

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 3, sc. 1, l. 56

• Drink, sir, is a great provoker of three things . . . nose-painting, sleep, and urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes; it provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance.

  William Shakespeare

  Drinking, Sleep, Alcohol

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 2, sc. 3, l. [28]

• And sleep, that sometime shuts up sorrow's eye, Steal me awhile from mine own company.

  William Shakespeare

  Sleep, Eye, Sorrow

  William Shakespeare (1813). “The Plays of William Shakespeare: In Twenty-one Volumes, with the Corrections and Illustrations of Various Commentators, to which are Added Notes”, p.438

• Are you sure/That we are awake? It seems to me/That yet we sleep, we dream

  William Shakespeare

  Good Night, Dream, Halloween

  William Shakespeare, Terri Bourus, Peter Holland (2006). “A Midsummer Night's Dream”, p.177, Sourcebooks, Inc.

• Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices, That, if I then had waked after long sleep, Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming, The clouds methought would open, and show riches Ready to drop upon me; that, when I waked, I cried to dream again.

  William Shakespeare

  Dream, Sweet, Hurt

  'The Tempest' (1611) act 3, sc. 2, l. [152]

• What early tongue so sweet saluteth me? Young son, it argues a distemper'd head So soon to bid good morrow to thy bed: Care keeps his watch in every old man's eye, And where care lodges, sleep will never lie; But where unbruised youth with unstuff'd brain Doth couch his limbs, there golden sleep doth reign.

  William Shakespeare

  Sweet, Lying, Sleep

  William Shakespeare (2014). “Arden Shakespeare Complete Works”, p.1019, Bloomsbury Publishing

• Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting That would not let me sleep.

  William Shakespeare

  Heart, Sleep, Fighting

  William Shakespeare (2001). “Hamlet”, p.412, Classic Books Company

• 'Tis dangerous to take a cold, to sleep, to drink; but I tell you, my lord fool, out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.

  William Shakespeare

  Flower, Sleep, Safety

  William Shakespeare (2013). “Histories of Shakespeare in Plain and Simple English (a Modern Translation and the Original Version)”, p.641, BookCaps Study Guides

• For some must watch, while some must sleep So runs the world away

  William Shakespeare

  Running, Sleep, Watches

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 3, sc. 2, l. [287]

• The deep of night is crept upon our talk,
  And Nature must obey necessity.

  William Shakespeare

  Nature, Sleep, Night

  'Julius Caesar' (1599) act 4, sc. 3, l. 225

• There's little of the melancholy element in her, my lord: she is never sad but when she sleeps; and not ever sad then; for I have heard my daughter say, she hath often dreamt of unhappiness, and waked herself with laughing.

  William Shakespeare

  Happiness, Daughter, Sleep

  1598 Leonato, of Beatrice. Much Ado About Nothing, act 2, sc.1, l.321-5.

• For in that sleep of death what dreams may come.

  William Shakespeare

  Death, Dream, Sleep

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 3, sc. 1, l. 56

• Why then, O brawling love! O loving hate! O any thing, of nothing first create! O heavy lightness, serious vanity, Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms, Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health, Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is! This love feel I, that feel no love in this.

  William Shakespeare

  Hate, Unrequited Love, Sleep

  William Shakespeare (2008). “Romeo and Juliet”, p.40, Barron's Educational Series

• Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits and Are melted into air, into thin air: And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep.

  William Shakespeare

  Life, Dream, Sleep

  'The Tempest' (1611) act 4, sc. 1, l. 148

• What, all so soon asleep! I wish mine eyes Would, with themselves, shut up my thoughts.

  William Shakespeare

  Sleep, Eye, Wish

  William Shakespeare, David Lindley (2002). “The Tempest”, p.138, Cambridge University Press

• He that sleeps feels not the tooth-ache

  William Shakespeare

  Sleep, Teeth, Ache

  'Cymbeline' (1609-10) act 5, sc. 4, l. [176]

• If I may trust the flattering truth of sleep,
  My dreams presage some joyful news at hand.
  My bosom's lord sits lightly in his throne,
  And all this day an unaccustomed spirit
  Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts.

  William Shakespeare

  Dream, Sleep, Hands

  'Romeo And Juliet' (1595) act 5, sc. 1, l. 3

• Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber.

  William Shakespeare

  Sleep, Honey, Dew

  'Julius Caesar' (1599) act 2, sc. 1, l. 230

• He that is thy friend indeed, He will help thee in thy need: If thou sorrow, he will weep; If thou wake, he cannot sleep: Thus of every grief in heart He with thee does bear a part. These are certain signs to know Faithful friend from flattering foe.

  William Shakespeare

  Grief, Heart, Sleep

  William Shakespeare (1833). “The plays and poems of William Shakspeare”, p.942

• A knavish speech sleeps in a fool's ear.

  William Shakespeare

  Sleep, Ears, Speech

  William Shakespeare (1832). “Hamlet, and As you like it, a specimen of a new ed. of Shakespeare [by T. Caldecott]. by T. Caldecott”

• To die: - to sleep: No more; and, by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished.

  William Shakespeare

  Death, Sleep, Heart

  'Hamlet' (1601) act 3, sc. 1, l. 56

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