QuoteProject
There is a gulf fixed between those who can sleep and those who cannot. It is one of the greatest divisions of the human race.
Iris Murdoch
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote highlights a profound distinction between people based on their ability to find peace and rest.

Iris Murdoch's quote addresses a significant divide among people, focusing on the fundamental human experience of sleep. Those who are able to sleep peacefully experience a separation from those who struggle with insomnia or restlessness, suggesting that this division reveals deeper psychological and existential issues that can profoundly affect one's quality of life and relationships with others.

Themes

SleepInsomniaHuman ExperiencePeaceRestDivision

In practice

Example use cases

In a mental health seminar, when discussing the impacts of sleep on well-being.

More from Iris Murdoch

What a test that is: more than devotion, admiration, passion. If you long and long for someone’s company you love them.
Iris MurdochRead
The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart.
Iris MurdochRead
Man's creative struggle, his search for wisdom and truth, is a love story.
Iris MurdochRead
All art deals with the absurd and aims at the simple. Good art speaks truth, indeed is truth, perhaps the only truth.
Iris MurdochRead
A bad review is even less important than whether it is raining in Patagonia.
Iris MurdochRead
Perhaps when distant people on other planets pick up some wavelength of ours all they hear is a continuous scream.
Iris MurdochRead

Similar quotes

No man need fear death, he need fear only that he may die without having known his greatest power: the power of his free will to give his life for others
Albert SchweitzerRead
When fear displaces reason, the result is often irrational hatred and division.
Al GoreRead
We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.
Eric HofferRead
But those who are ready to toil in the most excellent pursuits, will not desist from the search after truth, till they get the demonstration from the Scriptures themselves.
Clement Of AlexandriaRead
Abashed the devil stood and felt how awful goodness is and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely: and pined his loss
John MiltonRead
Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no. That's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim American kid believing that he or she could be president?
Colin PowellRead

A little wisdom, now and then

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