Quotes / The Insomniac

How can I then return in happy plight,
That am debarr'd the benefit of rest?
When day's oppression is not eased by night,
But day by night, and night by day, oppress'd?
And each, though enemies to either's reign,
Do in consent shake hands to torture me;
The one by toil, the other to complain
How far I toil, still farther off from thee.
I tell the day, to please them thou art bright
And dost him grace when clouds do blot the heaven:
So flatter I the swart-complexion'd night,
When sparkling stars twire not thou gild'st the even.
But day doth daily draw my sorrows longer
And night doth nightly make grief's strength seem stronger.

—William Shakespeare

How many thousand of my poorest subjects
Are at this hour asleep! 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?

—Henry IV, Henry IV, Part 2

"I detest sleep. I've got better things to do. Besides, I find it frightening - to awaken and be unsure of everything you remember about life not being just part of a dream. Waking means I've slept, and sleep dissolves what certainty I have left."

— Johnny the Homicidal Maniac

"You only get one shot at life. Why waste it on sleep?"

— Gustav Graves, Die Another Day

"Sleep? Sleep is for tortoises!"

— The Doctor, Doctor Who

"Note to self: confiscate the phone if boss seen awake for more than 28 hours."

— Serge, Blood Stain

Deep in the bosom of the gentle night
Is when I search for the light
Pick up my pen and start to write
I struggle, I fight dark forces in the clear moonlight
Without fear
Insomnia
I can't get no sleep

— Faithless, "Insomnia"

Kathryn: When was the last time you slept?
Liz: What day was it when we left the mall?
Kathryn: You haven't slept since Tuesday?
Liz: If I sleep I might miss something.

— Schlock Mercenary, Wednesday November 20th

"I'm seeing to the upkeep of the heirloom in Grandmother's stead...p-paying tribute to our guardian deities. I spend my days praying so that no disaster befalls the people or the village. When I finish and take a look around, it's already almost sunrise again."

— Paya when spoken to early in the morning, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

"I don't need sleep, I need answers!"

— Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory

"With insomnia, nothing's real. Everything's far away. Everything's a copy of a copy of a copy."

— The Narrator, Fight Club

"You wake up at Seatac, SFO, LAX. You wake up at O'Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth, BWI. Pacific, mountain, central. Lose an hour, gain an hour. This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time. You wake up at Air Harbor International. If you wake up at a different time, in a different place, could you wake up as a different person?"

— The Narrator, Fight Club

It's 4 AM again
You'd think that I could sense a trend
I'm stayin' up too late, just so I can stay awake,
Wish I weren't so self obsessed

— Tessa Violet, "Bored"

"I'm having trouble trying to sleep
I'm counting sheep but running out"

— Green Day, "Brain Stew"

This night covered in thick darkness, me alone
Cannot turn off my bright day
Being alone again is overwhelming and frightening
Darkness with only myself
[...]
I don't wanna wanna be up no no more
I don't wanna wanna be up up all night again
I don't wanna I don’t wanna waste my time
Hope I will fall into a deeper night
So I can move far far farther away, oh

— TWICE, "Up No More" (English translation)

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