--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A clock ticked somewhere in the darkness…" description: "\"“A clock ticked somewhere in the darkness. This was the time of night when things seemed unreal, when a thought that could be dismissed in daylight mig..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ef4/ali-shaw-12936_darkness_a-clock-ticked-somewhere-in-the-darkness_252921.jpg" --- # A clock ticked somewhere in the darkness. This was the… ![“A clock ticked somewhere in the darkness. This was the time of night when things seemed unreal, when a thought that could be dismissed in daylight might take hold of the guts and not be uprooted until morning.” quote by Ali Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ef4/ali-shaw-12936_darkness_a-clock-ticked-somewhere-in-the-darkness_252921.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ef4/ali-shaw-12936_darkness_a-clock-ticked-somewhere-in-the-darkness_252921.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ef4/ali-shaw-12936_darkness_a-clock-ticked-somewhere-in-the-darkness_252921.jpg) > ““A clock ticked somewhere in the darkness. This was the time of night when things seemed unreal, when a thought that could be dismissed in daylight might take hold of the guts and not be uprooted until morning.”” [Ali Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-shaw/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Nighttime thoughts can feel powerful and persist until morning, despite daytime dismissal. **In simple terms:** Darkness amplifies unsettling ideas that linger. Key Takeaway Acknowledge and examine nighttime thoughts. Themes mind night thoughts Mood introspective uneasy Type psychological inspirational When to use this quote - creative writing - therapy sessions Key Concepts psychology rumination Questions to Reflect On - What nighttime thought haunts you? - How can you reframe it before sunrise? A Different Perspective Such thoughts may be irrational and cause unnecessary distress. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Darkness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darkness/) [Morning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/morning/) [Night](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/night/) [Thoughts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thoughts/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [The clock ticked with empty urgency, as though trying to catch up with the time. 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You stick a candle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/there-s-always-going-to-be-bad-stuff-out-there-but-here-s-the-amazing/) [Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/) > [If I held all the thoughts of the world in my hand, I would be careful not to open it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-le-bovier-de-fontenelle/if-i-held-all-the-thoughts-of-the-world-in-my-hand-i-would-be-careful/) [Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-le-bovier-de-fontenelle/) > [I can't say that there are 'things' that make me come alive. There are thoughts that make me come alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-williamson/i-can-t-say-that-there-are-things-that-make-me-come-alive-there-are/) [Marianne Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-williamson/) > [“He who is mindless is defenceless” RjS”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rassool-jibraeel-snyman/he-who-is-mindless-is-defenceless-rjs/) [rassool jibraeel snyman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rassool-jibraeel-snyman/) > [“It took me years to learn to sit at my desk for more than two minutes at a time, to put up with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/it-took-me-years-to-learn-to-sit-at-my-desk-for-more-than-two-minutes/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [“I urge you: don't cut short these thought-trains of yours. Follow them through to their end. Your thoughts and your feelings. Follow them through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-m-coetzee/i-urge-you-don-t-cut-short-these-thought-trains-of-yours-follow-them/) [J.M. Coetzee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-m-coetzee/) ## More by Ali Shaw > [“It was the touch that made him realize he loved her. Warmth from her scalp. Grease from her locks. He entwined his hand in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ali-shaw/it-was-the-touch-that-made-him-realize-he-loved-her-warmth-from-her/) [Ali Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-shaw/) > [“She guiltily found she didn't miss him as much as she missed company in general.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ali-shaw/she-guiltily-found-she-didn-t-miss-him-as-much-as-she-missed-company/) [Ali Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-shaw/) > [“The sunset like a blacksmith, was beating the sky into glowing red blades.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ali-shaw/the-sunset-like-a-blacksmith-was-beating-the-sky-into-glowing-red/) [Ali Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-shaw/) > [“Sometimes I just can't stop thinking enough to turn off.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ali-shaw/sometimes-i-just-can-t-stop-thinking-enough-to-turn-off/) [Ali Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-shaw/) > [“It had butterfly wings, like flakes of patterned wax. 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Silver poplars looked like moonbeams.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ali-shaw/beeches-stood-aghast-in-pools-of-shed-leaves-silver-poplars-looked/) [Ali Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-shaw/) > [“Then there were the negatives. How he missed negatives. They were the actual rays of light, bounced straight off a landscape, an object, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ali-shaw/then-there-were-the-negatives-how-he-missed-negatives-they-were-the/) [Ali Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-shaw/) > [“He said human beings were like a wind blowing. He said that sometimes we're loud and sometimes we're a whisper, sometimes we're warm and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ali-shaw/he-said-human-beings-were-like-a-wind-blowing-he-said-that-sometimes/) [Ali Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-shaw/) > [“the sky was something she’d so often dreamed of while the hoo-ha of the Sunday service carried on around her. There seemed to her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ali-shaw/the-sky-was-something-she-d-so-often-dreamed-of-while-the-hoo-ha-of/) [Ali Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-shaw/) > [“Writing is like going underwater - thank you for being there when I come back up.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ali-shaw/writing-is-like-going-underwater-thank-you-for-being-there-when-i/) [Ali Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-shaw/) > [It didnt take tragedy or war to derail a man. It took only a memory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ali-shaw/it-didnt-take-tragedy-or-war-to-derail-a-man-it-took-only-a-memory/) [Ali Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-shaw/) > [“She dwelled for a moment on a memory from girlhood: smearing her tummy with a spiral of glue, then tipping a whole pot of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ali-shaw/she-dwelled-for-a-moment-on-a-memory-from-girlhood-smearing-her-tummy/) [Ali Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-shaw/) > [“Light didn't conduct truth as once he'd thought. There was nothing you could do to preserve truth. Light was only of use as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ali-shaw/light-didn-t-conduct-truth-as-once-he-d-thought-there-was-nothing-you/) [Ali Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-shaw/) [Explore all 44 Ali Shaw quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-shaw/) ## More Darkness quotes > [“Narrative cannot sustain formlessness any more than light can sustain darkness - it is the antithesis of formlessness, and so it can never truly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/narrative-cannot-sustain-formlessness-any-more-than-light-can-sustain/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [“Wait here, wait here!" he cried and jumped up and began to run for help toward a cluster of lights he saw in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/wait-here-wait-here-he-cried-and-jumped-up-and-began-to-run-for-help/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [Strange - is it not? That of the myriads who Before us passed the door of Darkness through, Not one returns to tell us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/strange-is-it-not-that-of-the-myriads-who-before-us-passed-the-door/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [When you're scared - and I mean really scared, not just hearing a noise in the night, or standing toe to toe with someone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-gordon-smith/when-you-re-scared-and-i-mean-really-scared-not-just-hearing-a-noise/) [Alexander Gordon Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-gordon-smith/) > [Clear moments are so short. There is much more darkness. More ocean than terra firma. More shadow than form.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-zagajewski/clear-moments-are-so-short-there-is-much-more-darkness-more-ocean/) [Adam Zagajewski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-zagajewski/) > [I even see the cinema itself as a woman, with its alternation of light and darkness, of appearing and disappearing images](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/federico-fellini/i-even-see-the-cinema-itself-as-a-woman-with-its-alternation-of-light/) [Federico Fellini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/federico-fellini/) > [I guess he'll have to figure out someday that he is supposed to have this dark side, that it is part of what it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/i-guess-he-ll-have-to-figure-out-someday-that-he-is-supposed-to-have/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [“I promise to respect and protect your aloneness, knowing that everything created must have its period of darkness: child and bulb, poem and personality.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-morrow-lindbergh/i-promise-to-respect-and-protect-your-aloneness-knowing-that/) [anne morrow lindbergh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-morrow-lindbergh/) > [The beauty of darkness is how it lets you see.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-beauty-of-darkness-is-how-it-lets-you-see/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [“Even in darkness your lips taste of sunshine”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francesca-lia-block/even-in-darkness-your-lips-taste-of-sunshine/) [Francesca Lia Block](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francesca-lia-block/) > [“Defy me not for gleam can only shine in my existence" said Darkness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/defy-me-not-for-gleam-can-only-shine-in-my-existence-said-darkness/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“What does he look like? The question was soft- tentative. I knew who he meant. I interlaced my fingers through Rhysand's and squeezed tightly.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-j-maas/what-does-he-look-like-the-question-was-soft-tentative-i-knew-who-he/) [Sarah J. Maas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-j-maas/) > [The dream of coming back is becoming a reality. A lot of the uncertainty about the future has been cleared up. A lot of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-tagliabue/the-dream-of-coming-back-is-becoming-a-reality-a-lot-of-the/) [Paul Tagliabue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-tagliabue/) > [“Life is like coffee, the darker it gets, the more it energizes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ankita-singhal/life-is-like-coffee-the-darker-it-gets-the-more-it-energizes/) [Ankita Singhal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ankita-singhal/) > [Twinking tears in a sea of black. Soft light in a world of darkness. Tiny wishes in a place of dreams. Do you see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-gentile/twinking-tears-in-a-sea-of-black-soft-light-in-a-world-of-darkness/) Nicole Gentile [Browse all 8,219 Darkness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darkness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“A clock ticked somewhere in the darkness. 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