QuoteProject
Sometimes he did not know if he slept or just thought about sleep.
Mark Strand
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote explores the ambiguity between sleep and thought, suggesting a blurred line between consciousness and rest.

Mark Strand's quote reflects a deep introspection concerning the nature of sleep and thought. It conveys a sense of confusion where the boundaries between dreaming and waking contemplation blend, prompting the reader to reflect on their own experiences of sleep and the thoughts that consume them, highlighting the complexity of human consciousness.

Themes

SleepThoughtConsciousnessDreamAmbiguity

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be used in a discussion about the nature of dreams in a psychology class.

More from Mark Strand

And at least in poetry you should feel free to lie. That is, not to lie, but to imagine what you want, to follow the direction of the poem.
Mark StrandRead
...In another time, What cannot be seen will define us, and we shall be prompted To say that language is error, and all things are wronged By representation. The self, we shall say, can never be Seen with a disguise, and never be seen without one.
Mark StrandRead
Even this late it happens the coming of love, the coming of light. You wake and the candles are lit as if by themselves, stars gather, dreams pour into your pillows, sending up warm bouquets of air. Even this late the bones of the body shine and tomorrow’s dust flares into breath.
Mark StrandRead
No voice comes from outer space, from the folds of dust and carpets of wind to tell us that this is the way it was meant to happen, that if only we knew how long the ruins would last we would never complain.
Mark StrandRead
From the shadow of domes in the city of domes,_x000D_ A snowflake, a blizzard of one, weightless, entered your room_x000D_ And made its way to the arm of the chair where you, looking up_x000D_ From your book, saw it the moment it landed. That's all_x000D_ There was to it.
Mark StrandRead
There's a certain point, when you're writing autobiographical stuff, where you don't want to misrepresent yourself. It would be dishonest.
Mark StrandRead

Similar quotes

These are the things which might conceivably and truly make men forgive their enemies. We can only turn hate to love by understanding what are the things that men have loved; nor is it necessary to ask men to hate their loves in order to love one another. Just as two grocers are most likely to be reconciled when they remember for a moment that they are two fathers, so two nationals are most likely to be reconciled when they remember (if only for a moment) that they are two patriots.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead
The richer we have become materially, the poorer we become morally and spiritually. We have learned to fly in the air like birds and swim in the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Read
Agitate him and ascertain the pattern of his movement.
Sun TzuRead
A distracted existence leads us to no goal
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
The world is not imperfect or slowly evolving along a long path to perfection. No, it is perfect at every moment; every sin already carries grace within it, all small children are potential old men, all sucklings have death within them, all dying people β€” eternal life.
Hermann HesseRead
The war was won on both sides: by the Vietnamese on the ground, by the Americans in the electronic mental space. And if the one side won an ideological and political victory, the other made Apocalypse Now and that has gone right around the world.
Jean BaudrillardRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.