Ache Quote by Djuna Barnes
“Our bones ache only while the flesh is on them. Stretch it as thin as the temple flesh of an ailing woman and still it serves to ache the bone and to move the bone about; and in like manner the night is a skin pulled over the head of day that the day may be in a torment. We will find no comfort until the night melts away; until the fury of the night rots out its fire.”
About This Quote
Source Novel: Nightwood, 1936
Physical pain mirrors emotional suffering; night represents darkness that must dissolve for relief.
In simple terms: Pain and darkness hide suffering; they must pass.
Key Takeaway
Seek healing by confronting and releasing inner turmoil.
Themes
suffering
night
healing
Mood
melancholic
introspective
Type
literary
philosophical
When to use this quote
- grief processing
- nighttime anxiety
- creative writing
- therapy sessions
Key Concepts
existentialism
psychology
metaphor
Questions to Reflect On
- How do you confront inner darkness?
- What rituals help you endure pain?
A Different Perspective
Night may persist despite attempts to thin it; relief is not guaranteed.
![“Then Night came down like the feathery soot of a smoky lamp, and smutted[9] first the bedquilt, then the hearth-rug, then the window-seat, and then at last the great, stormy, faraway outside world. But sleep did not come. Oh, no! Nothing new came at all except that particularly wretched, itching…” quote by Eleanor Hallowell Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ff9/eleanor-hallowell-abbott-23054_insomnia_then-night-came-down-like-the-feathery-s_311779.jpg)
