--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A sleeping man holds in a circle around…" description: "\"A sleeping man holds in a circle around him the thread of the hours, the order of years and of worlds. He consults them instinctively upon awaking and ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29f/marcel-proust-114_arousal_a-sleeping-man-holds-in-a-circle-around_2011458.jpg" --- # A sleeping man holds in a circle around him the thread of… ![“A sleeping man holds in a circle around him the thread of the hours, the order of years and of worlds. He consults them instinctively upon awaking and in one second reads in them the point of the earth that he occupies, the time past until his arousal; but their ranks can be mingled or broken.” quote by Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29f/marcel-proust-114_arousal_a-sleeping-man-holds-in-a-circle-around_2011458.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29f/marcel-proust-114_arousal_a-sleeping-man-holds-in-a-circle-around_2011458.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29f/marcel-proust-114_arousal_a-sleeping-man-holds-in-a-circle-around_2011458.jpg) > “A sleeping man holds in a circle around him the thread of the hours, the order of years and of worlds. He consults them instinctively upon awaking and in one second reads in them the point of the earth that he occupies, the time past until his arousal; but their ranks can be mingled or broken.” [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The mind maps time and place through fleeting sensations, allowing instant self‑location but also showing that these perceptions can be rearranged or disrupted. **In simple terms:** Our senses give us a quick sense of where we are in time and space, though they can be shuffled. Key Takeaway Trust your intuition but stay aware of its fluidity. Themes perception time self‑awareness Mood reflective curious Type philosophical introspective When to use this quote - morning routine - creative brainstorming - travel navigation - meditation Key Concepts phenomenology subjective experience Questions to Reflect On - How do you verify the accuracy of your intuitive judgments? - When have your perceptions misled you? A Different Perspective Our senses may misinterpret or oversimplify complex realities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Circles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/circles/) [Earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/earth/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Order](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/order/) [Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past/) [Sleep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sleep/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Times past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/times-past/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [ \[Prayer\] takes no time, but it occupies all our time. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/prayer-takes-no-time-but-it-occupies-all-our-time/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [“Now, the earth occupies one of the foci of the ellipse, and so at one point in its course is at its apogee, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jules-verne/now-the-earth-occupies-one-of-the-foci-of-the-ellipse-and-so-at-one/) [Jules Verne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jules-verne/) > [The only thing that comes to a sleeping man is dreams.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tupac-shakur/the-only-thing-that-comes-to-a-sleeping-man-is-dreams/) [Tupac Shakur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tupac-shakur/) > [“All I know is that while I’m asleep, I’m never afraid, and I have no hopes, no struggles, no glories — and bless the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-de-cervantes-saavedra/all-i-know-is-that-while-i-m-asleep-i-m-never-afraid-and-i-have-no/) [Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-de-cervantes-saavedra/) > [When one becomes for an instant one's former self, that is to say different from what one has been for some time past, one's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/when-one-becomes-for-an-instant-one-s-former-self-that-is-to-say/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [For the ego to survive, it must make time - past and future - more important than the present moment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/for-the-ego-to-survive-it-must-make-time-past-and-future-more/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [He who would foresee what is to happen should look to what has happened: for all that is has its counterpart in time past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niccolo-machiavelli/he-who-would-foresee-what-is-to-happen-should-look-to-what-has/) [Niccolo Machiavelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niccolo-machiavelli/) > [Give up identification with this mass of flesh as well as with what thinks it a mass. Both are intellectual imaginations. Recognise your true…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adi-shankara/give-up-identification-with-this-mass-of-flesh-as-well-as-with-what/) [Adi Shankara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adi-shankara/) > [In times past...it was my habit to talk glibly of the right of man to land. It was a bad habit, and I long…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-tucker/in-times-past-it-was-my-habit-to-talk-glibly-of-the-right-of-man-to/) [Benjamin Tucker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-tucker/) > [At times in the past, the U.S. did not restrict the number of immigrants.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-hawkins/at-times-in-the-past-the-u-s-did-not-restrict-the-number-of-immigrants/) [Jeff Hawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-hawkins/) > [For I assure Your Majesty that if God had not mysteriously assisted us and the victory had gone to Narváez, it would have been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hernando-cortes/for-i-assure-your-majesty-that-if-god-had-not-mysteriously-assisted/) [Hernando Cortes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hernando-cortes/) > [Literary men are being employed to praise a big business man personally, as men used to praise a king. They not only find political…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/literary-men-are-being-employed-to-praise-a-big-business-man/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Life, to be worthy of a rational being, must be always in progression; we must always purpose to do more or better than in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/life-to-be-worthy-of-a-rational-being-must-be-always-in-progression/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [I've at times in my past been so unhappy, and thought, like, 'I would give anything for this not to be happening.' And, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-choi/i-ve-at-times-in-my-past-been-so-unhappy-and-thought-like-i-would/) [Susan Choi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-choi/) > [“There is no creature so perfect in wisdom and knowledge but may learn something for time present, and to come, by times past.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-robinson/there-is-no-creature-so-perfect-in-wisdom-and-knowledge-but-may-learn/) [John Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-robinson/) ## More by Marcel Proust > [“machinery' of life at Versailles; and was able, too, to persuade herself that her silence, a shade of good humour or of arrogance on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/machinery-of-life-at-versailles-and-was-able-too-to-persuade-herself/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [ “For her \[Françoise\], wealth was like a necessary condition without which virtue would lack both merit and charm. She made so little distinction between… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/for-her-fran-oise-wealth-was-like-a-necessary-condition-without-which/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [Knowing does not always allow us to prevent, but at least the things that we know, we hold them, if not in our hands,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/knowing-does-not-always-allow-us-to-prevent-but-at-least-the-things/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [Death is in truth an illness from which we recover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/death-is-in-truth-an-illness-from-which-we-recover/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [The bonds that unite another person to our self exist only in our mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/the-bonds-that-unite-another-person-to-our-self-exist-only-in-our-mind/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [...a writer's works, like the water in an artesian well, mount to a height which is in proportion to the depth to which suffering…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/a-writer-s-works-like-the-water-in-an-artesian-well-mount-to-a-height/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“Then from those profound slumbers we awake in a dawn, not knowing who we are, being nobody, newly born, ready for anything, the brain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/then-from-those-profound-slumbers-we-awake-in-a-dawn-not-knowing-who/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“Art extracted from the most familiar reality does indeed exist and its domain is perhaps the largest of any.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/art-extracted-from-the-most-familiar-reality-does-indeed-exist-and/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [I find very reasonable the Celtic belief that the souls of our dearly departed are trapped in some inferior being, in an animal, aplant,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/i-find-very-reasonable-the-celtic-belief-that-the-souls-of-our-dearly/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“When you heard anyone in the middle of a talk which was being deliberately kept off the Affair announce furtively some piece of political…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/when-you-heard-anyone-in-the-middle-of-a-talk-which-was-being/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“We betroth ourselves by proxy, and then feel obliged to marry the intermediary.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/we-betroth-ourselves-by-proxy-and-then-feel-obliged-to-marry-the/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“But the old lady on the contrary, far from justifying her daughter’s fears, felt every time someone of her own age “disappeared” that she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/but-the-old-lady-on-the-contrary-far-from-justifying-her-daughter-s/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [Often it is just lack of imagination that keeps a man from suffering very much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/often-it-is-just-lack-of-imagination-that-keeps-a-man-from-suffering/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“When we are nice to others, we generally lose all claim to their respect.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/when-we-are-nice-to-others-we-generally-lose-all-claim-to-their/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“Nobility is often no more than the inner aspect which our egotistical feelings assume when we have not yet named and classified them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/nobility-is-often-no-more-than-the-inner-aspect-which-our-egotistical/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) [Explore all 1,113 Marcel Proust quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) ## More Arousal quotes > [You can't fake competence, creativity, or sexual arousal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/you-can-t-fake-competence-creativity-or-sexual-arousal/) [Douglas Coupland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-coupland/) > [“Arousal is a fairly complex thing. Many people masturabate when they're bored, not because they're aroused." (Dima)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-voinov/arousal-is-a-fairly-complex-thing-many-people-masturabate-when-they/) [Aleksandr Voinov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-voinov/) > [“Her body clenched with hot desire, and without thinking she bathed Jacques’ mind in her heat. She saw his body hunch, as if someone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christine-feehan/her-body-clenched-with-hot-desire-and-without-thinking-she-bathed/) [Christine Feehan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christine-feehan/) > [Yes, Elizabeth.” Dash kept his voice low, but let it rumble with his arousal. “I lived for you and Cassie. But while I fought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lora-leigh/yes-elizabeth-dash-kept-his-voice-low-but-let-it-rumble-with-his/) [Lora Leigh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lora-leigh/) > [“A dangerous flicker of energy passes between us, and I see his pupils dilate as arousal floods his body. His mouth finds me aggressively,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felicity-brandon/a-dangerous-flicker-of-energy-passes-between-us-and-i-see-his-pupils/) [Felicity Brandon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/felicity-brandon/) > [Mercedes Benz : A mechanical device that increases sexual arousal in women.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-j-o-rourke/mercedes-benz-a-mechanical-device-that-increases-sexual-arousal-in/) [P. J. O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/p-j-o-rourke/) > [“teasing is arousal without the promise of release!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ali-vali/teasing-is-arousal-without-the-promise-of-release/) [Ali Vali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-vali/) > [“Oh, Rob, ye're alive!" Elspeth put both arms around his neck and hugged him close. "I was afeard ye were gone, but ye're alive!"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/connie-mason/oh-rob-ye-re-alive-elspeth-put-both-arms-around-his-neck-and-hugged/) [Connie Mason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/connie-mason/) > [“I could feel his whole body trying to claim me, want me, own me in lust, and it made me feel so valuable and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fiona-thrust/i-could-feel-his-whole-body-trying-to-claim-me-want-me-own-me-in-lust/) [Fiona Thrust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fiona-thrust/) > [“He opened her door, helped her to the ground, and held her before him. “You’re cold.” Unable to meet his gaze, Kara spoke without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pamela-clare/he-opened-her-door-helped-her-to-the-ground-and-held-her-before-him/) [Pamela Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pamela-clare/) > [As a feminine cocreator, having lived through the arc of evolution from 1929 to the present, I offer encouragement and vocational arousal to all!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-marx-hubbard/as-a-feminine-cocreator-having-lived-through-the-arc-of-evolution/) [Barbara Marx Hubbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-marx-hubbard/) > [“To feel aroused is to feel alive. 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