The worst thing in the world is to try to sleep and not to.
Interpretation
Struggling to fall asleep can be incredibly frustrating and distressing.
This quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald highlights the emotional and mental toll that insomnia can take on a person. The inability to sleep not only affects physical health but also contributes to feelings of anxiety and helplessness, illustrating how critical sleep is to overall well-being.
In practice
This quote could be shared in a blog post about sleep health.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
It's absolutely amazing that I survived all the booze and smoking and the cars and the career.
The act of living had been enjoyable; at some point when I was not paying attention, it had turned into a different sort of experience, to whose grimness I had grown so accustomed that I now took it for granted.
My advice to people today is as follows: if you take the game of life seriously, if you take your nervous system seriously, if you take your sense organs seriously, if you take the energy process seriously, you must turn on, tune in, and drop out.
I must have something to engross my thoughts, some object in life which will fill this vacuum, and prevent this sad wearing away of the heart.
Before undergoing a surgical operation, arrange your temporal affairs. You may live.
I want to walk through life instead of being dragged through it.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.