--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We wake sleeping, and sleep waking. I do…" description: "\"We wake sleeping, and sleep waking. I do not see so clearly in my sleep; but as to my being awake, I never found it clear enough and free from clouds.\"..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c76/michel-de-montaigne-142_awake_we-wake-sleeping-and-sleep-waking-i-do-n_3111875.jpg" --- # We wake sleeping, and sleep waking. I do not see so… ![“We wake sleeping, and sleep waking. I do not see so clearly in my sleep; but as to my being awake, I never found it clear enough and free from clouds.” quote by Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c76/michel-de-montaigne-142_awake_we-wake-sleeping-and-sleep-waking-i-do-n_3111875.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c76/michel-de-montaigne-142_awake_we-wake-sleeping-and-sleep-waking-i-do-n_3111875.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c76/michel-de-montaigne-142_awake_we-wake-sleeping-and-sleep-waking-i-do-n_3111875.jpg) > “We wake sleeping, and sleep waking. I do not see so clearly in my sleep; but as to my being awake, I never found it clear enough and free from clouds.” [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Our waking and sleeping states blur, leaving clarity elusive in both. **In simple terms:** Clarity is rare in wakefulness and sleep. Key Takeaway Seek moments of true insight. Themes perception clarity mindfulness Mood contemplative introspective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - meditation - creative work - problem solving Key Concepts subjective reality epistemic limits Questions to Reflect On - When have you felt genuine clarity? - How can you preserve it? A Different Perspective Clarity may be fleeting and hard to capture. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Sleep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sleep/) ## Related quotes > [I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. I feel my fate in what I cannot fear. I learn by going where I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roethke/i-wake-to-sleep-and-take-my-waking-slow-i-feel-my-fate-in-what-i/) [Theodore Roethke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roethke/) > [“The Waking I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. 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Wake up the sleeping giant in you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chia-thye-poh/get-out-of-your-comfort-zone-wake-up-the-sleeping-giant-in-you/) Chia Thye Poh > [Are you an alarm clock? You managed to wake up my sleeping heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/are-you-an-alarm-clock-you-managed-to-wake-up-my-sleeping-heart/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Nobody knows what either sleep or waking consciousness is, even though these two have long been seen as the two sides of being: part…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siri-hustvedt/nobody-knows-what-either-sleep-or-waking-consciousness-is-even-though/) [Siri Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siri-hustvedt/) > [“With regard to sleep and waking, we must consider what they are: whether they are peculiar to soul or to body, or common to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/with-regard-to-sleep-and-waking-we-must-consider-what-they-are/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [Error is to truth as sleep is to waking. I have observed that one turns, as if refreshed, from error back to truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/error-is-to-truth-as-sleep-is-to-waking-i-have-observed-that-one/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Freedom is the moment between sleep and waking before selfhood and the world return.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/freedom-is-the-moment-between-sleep-and-waking-before-selfhood-and/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [“The delicious, semiconscious, edge-of-wonderland kind of sleep, where I'm awake enough to control my dreams but asleep enough to forget that I'm doing it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-miller/the-delicious-semiconscious-edge-of-wonderland-kind-of-sleep-where-i/) [Lauren Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-miller/) > [“When I write my dreams down, I can relive my sleep when I am awake.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/when-i-write-my-dreams-down-i-can-relive-my-sleep-when-i-am-awake/) [Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/) ## More by Michel de Montaigne > [No man is exempt from saying silly things; the mischief is to say them deliberately.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/no-man-is-exempt-from-saying-silly-things-the-mischief-is-to-say-them/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [The laws keep up their credit, not by being just, but because they are laws; 'tis the mystic foundation of their authority; they have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/the-laws-keep-up-their-credit-not-by-being-just-but-because-they-are/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [Every one rushes elsewhere and into the future, because no one wants to face one's own inner self.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/every-one-rushes-elsewhere-and-into-the-future-because-no-one-wants/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [Beauty is the true prerogative of women, and so peculiarly their own, that our sex, though naturally requiring another sort of feature, is never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/beauty-is-the-true-prerogative-of-women-and-so-peculiarly-their-own/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [The height and value of true virtue consists in the facility, utility, and pleasure of its exercise; so far from difficulty, that boys, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/the-height-and-value-of-true-virtue-consists-in-the-facility-utility/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [Fie on the eloquence that leaves us craving itself, not things!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/fie-on-the-eloquence-that-leaves-us-craving-itself-not-things/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [The plainest sign of wisdom is a continual cheerfulness: her state is like that of things in the regions above the moon, always clear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/the-plainest-sign-of-wisdom-is-a-continual-cheerfulness-her-state-is/) [Michel De Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [The corruption of the age is made up by the particular contribution of every individual man; some contribute treachery, others injustice, atheism, tyranny, avarice,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/the-corruption-of-the-age-is-made-up-by-the-particular-contribution/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [If people must be talking about me, I would have it to be truthfully and justly. 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