William Shakespeare Quotes about Sleep

There is plenty of time to sleep in the grave

There is plenty of time to sleep in the grave

Sleep, Graves, Time To Sleep

A knavish speech sleeps in a fool's ear.

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”

You lack the season of all natures, sleep.

William Shakespeare

Sleep, Insomnia, Macbeth Theme

'Macbeth' (1606) act 3, sc. 4, l. 141

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

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

Love's stories written in love's richest books. To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes.

William Shakespeare

Book, Sleep, Eye

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come.

William Shakespeare

Death, Dream, Sleep

'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

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]

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

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

Death-counterfeiting sleep.

William Shakespeare

Death, Sleep

William Shakespeare, Samuel Ayscough, Nicholas Rowe, Samuel Johnson (1791). “Shakspeare's Dramatic Works: With Explanatory Notes. To which is Now Added, a Copious Index to the Remarkable Passages and Words”, p.1611

Is this a vision? Is this a dream? Do I sleep?

William Shakespeare

Dream, Sleep, Vision

William Shakespeare (1996). “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare”, p.571, Wordsworth Editions

Indeed, sir, he that sleeps feels not the toothache; but a man that were to sleep your sleep, and a hangman to help him to bed, I think he would change places with his officer; for look you, sir, you know not which way you shall go.

William Shakespeare

Sleep, Men, Thinking

William Shakespeare, Sir Thomas Hanmer, Alexander Pope, Nicholas Rowe (1744). “The Works of Shakespear: Tragedies: Troilus and Cressida. Cymbeline. Romeo and Juliet. Hamlet. Othello. Glossary”, p.207

Friends now fast sworn, Whose double bosoms seems to wear one heart, Whose hours, whose bed, whose meal and exercise Are still together, who twin, as 'twere, in love, Unseparable, shall within this hour, On a dissension of a doit, break out To bitterest enmity; so fellest foes, Whose passions and whose plots have broke their sleep To take the one the other, by some chance, Some trick not worth an egg, shall grow dear friends And interjoin their issues.

William Shakespeare

Passion, Heart, Sleep

William Shakespeare, Lee Bliss (2000). “Coriolanus”, p.221, Cambridge University Press

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

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.

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

'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

Sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow's eye.

William Shakespeare

Sleep, Eye, Sorrow

1595 Helena. A Midsummer Night's Dream, act 3, sc.3, l.23-4.

A great perturbation in nature, to receive at once the benefit of sleep and do the effects of watching!

William Shakespeare

Sleep, Benefits, Macbeth Motif

William Shakespeare (2015). “Macbeth: Third Series”, p.271, Bloomsbury Publishing

What is a man, if his chief good and market of his time be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.

William Shakespeare

Sleep, Men, Beast

'Hamlet' (1601) act 4, sc. 4, l. 32

What is a man, if his chief good and market of his time be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more. Sure he that made us with such large discourse, looking before and after, gave us not that capability and god-like reason to fust in us unused.

William Shakespeare

Sleep, Men, Before And After

'Hamlet' (1601) act 4, sc. 4, l. 32

Nor shall this peace sleep with her; but as when The bird of wonder dies, the maiden phoenix, Her ashes new-create another heir As great in admiration as herself.

William Shakespeare

Sleep, Phoenix, Bird

'Henry VIII' (1613) act 5, sc. 5, l. 40