---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: He was like someone sleeping who woke…"
description: "\"He was like someone sleeping who woke suddenly and found the world...all the beauty of it, and the sadness too. The hunger and the thirst. Everything h..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/10f/daphne-du-maurier-1185_beauty_he-was-like-someone-sleeping-who-woke-su_2617849.png"
---

#  He was like someone sleeping who woke suddenly and found…

![“He was like someone sleeping who woke suddenly and found the world...all the beauty of it, and the sadness too. The hunger and the thirst. Everything he had never thought about or known was there before him, and magnified into one person who by chance, or fate--call it what you will--happened to…” quote by Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/10f/daphne-du-maurier-1185_beauty_he-was-like-someone-sleeping-who-woke-su_2617849.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/10f/daphne-du-maurier-1185_beauty_he-was-like-someone-sleeping-who-woke-su_2617849.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/10f/daphne-du-maurier-1185_beauty_he-was-like-someone-sleeping-who-woke-su_2617849.png)

> “He was like someone sleeping who woke suddenly and found the world...all the beauty of it, and the sadness too. The hunger and the thirst. Everything he had never thought about or known was there before him, and magnified into one person who by chance, or fate--call it what you will--happened to be me.”

[Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

A sudden awakening reveals the world’s beauty and sorrow, reshaping identity.

**In simple terms:** Awakening brings both wonder and pain.

Key Takeaway

Embrace transformative moments fully.

Themes

self‑discovery awakening beauty sadness identity existential reflection

Mood

reflective poetic

Type

philosophical inspirational

When to use this quote

- life crises
- spiritual epiphanies
- creative inspiration
- psychological therapy

Key Concepts

personal growth literary analysis

Questions to Reflect On

- What recent realization changed your perspective?
- How do you balance awe with melancholy?

A Different Perspective

Awakening can be overwhelming.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Beauty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/) [Chance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chance/) [Fate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fate/) [Hunger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hunger/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Sadness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sadness/) [Sleep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sleep/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/)

## Related quotes

> [“Could you be happy if you woke up and suddenly you were no one special?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kami-garcia-and-margaret-stohl/could-you-be-happy-if-you-woke-up-and-suddenly-you-were-no-one-special/)

[Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kami-garcia-and-margaret-stohl/)

> [One of the ways that I discovered my confidence and my ability to overpower is becoming a mother. Suddenly, my world wasn't about myself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lights/one-of-the-ways-that-i-discovered-my-confidence-and-my-ability-to/)

[Lights](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lights/)

> [“As suddenly the whole world would slip back into a mollifying, untormented dark; their aching bodies knew its calm.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-jones/as-suddenly-the-whole-world-would-slip-back-into-a-mollifying/)

[David Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-jones/)

> [True love is, when everything in the world is going wrong, all you have to do is look at that special person and, suddenly,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/true-love-is-when-everything-in-the-world-is-going-wrong-all-you-have/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [She walked quickly around her one-room apartment. After more than four years in this one home she knew all its possibilities, how it could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-jackson/she-walked-quickly-around-her-one-room-apartment-after-more-than-four/)

[Shirley Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-jackson/)

> [I was sitting outside in our backyard on a summer day, I was around six, and suddenly the whole world dissolved before my eyes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/i-was-sitting-outside-in-our-backyard-on-a-summer-day-i-was-around/)

[Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/)

> [The great war that broke so suddenly upon the world two years ago, and which has swept up within its flame so great a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woodrow-wilson/the-great-war-that-broke-so-suddenly-upon-the-world-two-years-ago-and/)

[Woodrow Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woodrow-wilson/)

> [Suddenly the world has run amok and left you alone and sane behind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/suddenly-the-world-has-run-amok-and-left-you-alone-and-sane-behind/)

[Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/)

> [Now that I'm a father of three kids, suddenly the whole world seems different. I don't want to take anything for granted. If you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/damian-loeb/now-that-i-m-a-father-of-three-kids-suddenly-the-whole-world-seems/)

[Damian Loeb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/damian-loeb/)

> [Suddenly, the world I had scrutinised for so long was all around me, as if I had leaned forward and climbed into the television…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-pegg/suddenly-the-world-i-had-scrutinised-for-so-long-was-all-around-me-as/)

[Simon Pegg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-pegg/)

> [And suddenly the world was filled with wooden faces and flat voices - and, you were alone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-cornwell/and-suddenly-the-world-was-filled-with-wooden-faces-and-flat-voices/)

[Patricia Cornwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-cornwell/)

> [I wrote the show West Wing for the two years before and the two years after 9/11. Suddenly everyone in the world had been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-sorkin/i-wrote-the-show-west-wing-for-the-two-years-before-and-the-two-years/)

[Aaron Sorkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-sorkin/)

> [You learn to read in kindergarten or first grade, and suddenly there's this other world that isn't your family or your school or your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynne-tillman/you-learn-to-read-in-kindergarten-or-first-grade-and-suddenly-there-s/)

[Lynne Tillman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynne-tillman/)

> [“Social media is just useless garbage until one random, serendipitous, meaningful connection happens and suddenly the whole world shifts.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-blank/social-media-is-just-useless-garbage-until-one-random-serendipitous/)

Dan Blank

> [“When you love, you open yourself up to numerous vulnerabilities and worries and responsibilities you never imagined existed because suddenly there’s someone else in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-kage/when-you-love-you-open-yourself-up-to-numerous-vulnerabilities-and/)

[Linda Kage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-kage/)

## More by Daphne du Maurier

> [He lacked tenderness; he was rude; and he had more than a streak of cruelty in him; he was a thief and a liar.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/he-lacked-tenderness-he-was-rude-and-he-had-more-than-a-streak-of/)

[Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/)

> [“You understand now... how simple life becomes when things like mirrors are forgotten.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/you-understand-now-how-simple-life-becomes-when-things-like-mirrors/)

[Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/)

> [I could fight with the living but I could not fight the dead. If there was some woman in London that Maxim loved, someone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/i-could-fight-with-the-living-but-i-could-not-fight-the-dead-if-there/)

[Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/)

> [It wouldn't make for sanity would it, living with the devil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/it-wouldn-t-make-for-sanity-would-it-living-with-the-devil/)

[Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/)

> [“The only time I got into trouble was when I forged M's signature on the weekly report we had to take home every Friday…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/the-only-time-i-got-into-trouble-was-when-i-forged-m-s-signature-on/)

[Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/)

> [“They are not brave, the days when we are twenty-one. They are full of little cowardices, little fears without foundation, and one is so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/they-are-not-brave-the-days-when-we-are-twenty-one-they-are-full-of/)

[Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/)

> [Women want love to be a novel, men a short story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/women-want-love-to-be-a-novel-men-a-short-story/)

[Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/)

> [“We all of us have our particular devil who ruses us and torments us, and we must give battle in the end.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/we-all-of-us-have-our-particular-devil-who-ruses-us-and-torments-us/)

[Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/)

> [“Happy in his silence yet eager for his words.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/happy-in-his-silence-yet-eager-for-his-words/)

[Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/)

> [“There have been men in arid deserts where the sun has so disfigured them that they have become things of horror – parched and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/there-have-been-men-in-arid-deserts-where-the-sun-has-so-disfigured/)

[Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/)

> [“Packing up. The nagging worry of departure. When shutting drawers and flinging wide an hotel wardrobe, or the impersonal shelves of a furnished villa,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/packing-up-the-nagging-worry-of-departure-when-shutting-drawers-and/)

[Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/)

> [“And perhaps one day, in after years, someone would wander there and listen to the silence, as she had done, and catch the whisper…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/and-perhaps-one-day-in-after-years-someone-would-wander-there-and/)

[Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/)

> [“You thought I was mad. Perhaps I was. Perhaps I am. It doesn't make for sanity, does it, living with the devil.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/you-thought-i-was-mad-perhaps-i-was-perhaps-i-am-it-doesn-t-make-for/)

[Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/)

> [“many impressions to seize and hold, familiar loved façades, balconies, windows, water lapping the cellar steps of decaying palaces, the little red house where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/many-impressions-to-seize-and-hold-familiar-loved-fa-ades-balconies/)

[Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/)

> [People who travel are always fugitives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/people-who-travel-are-always-fugitives/)

[Daphne du Maurier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/)

[Explore all 269 Daphne du Maurier quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/)

## More Beauty quotes

> [We do not want nowadays temples of worship and outward rites and ceremonies. What we really want is an Asram. We want a place…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabindranath-tagore/we-do-not-want-nowadays-temples-of-worship-and-outward-rites-and/)

[Rabindranath Tagore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabindranath-tagore/)

> [How could anybody confuse truth with beauty, I thought as I looked at him. Truth came with sunken eyes, bony or scarred, decayed. Its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/how-could-anybody-confuse-truth-with-beauty-i-thought-as-i-looked-at/)

[Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/)

> [A thing of beauty is a joy for ever;It's loveliness increase;it will never pass into nothingness;but still will keep a bower quiet for us,and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keats/a-thing-of-beauty-is-a-joy-for-ever-it-s-loveliness-increase-it-will/)

[John Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keats/)

> [To fathom the power, to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain, to swing on the spiral of our divinity, and still be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tool/to-fathom-the-power-to-witness-the-beauty-to-bathe-in-the-fountain-to/)

[Tool](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tool/)

> [The term "black metal" has become a lot looser, or can include a larger range of sounds and extra-musical aesthetics, not just Satan and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-marston/the-term-black-metal-has-become-a-lot-looser-or-can-include-a-larger/)

[Colin Marston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-marston/)

> [“We've all met people who are beautiful on the outside, however, when they open their mouths to speak, they have nothing of substance to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-c-young/we-ve-all-met-people-who-are-beautiful-on-the-outside-however-when/)

[Susan C. Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-c-young/)

> [There are various orders of beauty, causing men to make fools of themselves in various styles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-are-various-orders-of-beauty-causing-men-to-make-fools-of/)

[George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/)

> [To me, the beauty of a quilt or a dress lies within the stitches and the thought of the person who made them. When…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie/to-me-the-beauty-of-a-quilt-or-a-dress-lies-within-the-stitches-and/)

[Natalie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie/)

> [“do not misunderstand person by beauty You really do not know its real or Mask on dirty thoughts”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohammed-zaki-ansari/do-not-misunderstand-person-by-beauty-you-really-do-not-know-its-real/)

[Mohammed Zaki Ansari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammed-zaki-ansari/)

> [“I already love in you your beauty, but I am only beginning to love in you that which is eternal and ever precious –…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/i-already-love-in-you-your-beauty-but-i-am-only-beginning-to-love-in/)

[Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/)

> [The more perfect the sight is the more delightful the beautiful object. The more perfect the appetite, the sweeter the food. The more musical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-baxter/the-more-perfect-the-sight-is-the-more-delightful-the-beautiful/)

[Richard Baxter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-baxter/)

> [Call her beautiful a million times and she won't believe you. Call her ugly once, and she will never forget it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tumblr/call-her-beautiful-a-million-times-and-she-won-t-believe-you-call-her/)

Tumblr

> [Time can but make her beauty over again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/time-can-but-make-her-beauty-over-again/)

[William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/)

> [ The social \[media channel\] isn't about beauty contests and popularity contests. They're a distortion, a caricature of the real thing. It's about trust, connection,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-haque/the-social-media-channel-isn-t-about-beauty-contests-and-popularity/)

[Umair Haque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-haque/)

> [“What about you? What do you do?” I needed to ask questions, draw him out. I needed to find out all the information I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-avery-ellison/what-about-you-what-do-you-do-i-needed-to-ask-questions-draw-him-out/)

[Kate Avery Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-avery-ellison/)

[Browse all 24,662 Beauty quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "He was like someone sleeping who woke suddenly and found the world...all the beauty of it, and the sadness too. The hunger and the thirst. Everything he had never thought about or known was there before him, and magnified into one person who by chance, or fate--call it what you will--happened to be me.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Daphne du Maurier"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/he-was-like-someone-sleeping-who-woke-suddenly-and-found-the-world/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Beauty"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/he-was-like-someone-sleeping-who-woke-suddenly-and-found-the-world/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/10f/daphne-du-maurier-1185_beauty_he-was-like-someone-sleeping-who-woke-su_2617849.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/10f/daphne-du-maurier-1185_beauty_he-was-like-someone-sleeping-who-woke-su_2617849.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/10f/daphne-du-maurier-1185_beauty_he-was-like-someone-sleeping-who-woke-su_2617849.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“He was like someone sleeping who woke suddenly and found the world...all the beauty of it, and the sadness…” — Daphne du Maurier",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Daphne du Maurier",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daphne-du-maurier/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "He was like someone sleeping who...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/he-was-like-someone-sleeping-who-woke-suddenly-and-found-the-world/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daphne-du-maurier/he-was-like-someone-sleeping-who-woke-suddenly-and-found-the-world/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
