--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Sleeping or waking, we hear not the airy…" description: "\"Sleeping or waking, we hear not the airy footsteps of the strange things that almost happen.\" — Nathaniel Hawthorne" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/086/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_airy_sleeping-or-waking-we-hear-not-the-airy_2227987.jpg" --- # Sleeping or waking, we hear not the airy footsteps of the… ![“Sleeping or waking, we hear not the airy footsteps of the strange things that almost happen.” quote by Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/086/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_airy_sleeping-or-waking-we-hear-not-the-airy_2227987.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/086/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_airy_sleeping-or-waking-we-hear-not-the-airy_2227987.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/086/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_airy_sleeping-or-waking-we-hear-not-the-airy_2227987.jpg) > “Sleeping or waking, we hear not the airy footsteps of the strange things that almost happen.” [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Even in wakefulness, strange possibilities linger unnoticed, hinting at unseen forces shaping reality. **In simple terms:** Unseen possibilities exist. Key Takeaway Stay alert to subtle signs. Themes perception mystery existence awareness imagination Mood mysterious contemplative poetic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - Dream analysis - creative writing - mindfulness practice - scientific observation Key Concepts the unseen psychological perception latent events Questions to Reflect On - What hidden forces influence your life? - How do you discern real from imagined? 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It is seldom that a man continues to wish and design the same thing two days alike. Now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-charron/mutability-is-the-badge-of-infirmity-it-is-seldom-that-a-man/) [Pierre Charron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-charron/) > [Sorrow itself is not so hard to bear As the thought of sorrow coming. Airy ghosts, That work no harm, do terrify us more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bailey-aldrich/sorrow-itself-is-not-so-hard-to-bear-as-the-thought-of-sorrow-coming/) [Thomas Bailey Aldrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-bailey-aldrich/) > [But housekeeping is fun. It is one job where you enjoy the results right along as you work. You may work all day washing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gladys-taber/but-housekeeping-is-fun-it-is-one-job-where-you-enjoy-the-results/) [Gladys Taber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gladys-taber/) > [“ Autumn Days Yellow, mellow, ripened days, Sheltered in a golden coating; O'er the dreamy, listless haze, White and dainty cloudlets floating; Winking at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-carleton/autumn-days-yellow-mellow-ripened-days-sheltered-in-a-golden-coating/) [Will Carleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-carleton/) > [When I feel the joy of receiving a gift my heart nudges me to join creation's ballet, the airy dance of giving and receiving,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-b-smedes/when-i-feel-the-joy-of-receiving-a-gift-my-heart-nudges-me-to-join/) [Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-b-smedes/) > [My family dumplings are sleek and seductive, yet stout and masculine. They taste of meat, yet of flour. They are wet, yet they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-p-t-coffin/my-family-dumplings-are-sleek-and-seductive-yet-stout-and-masculine/) Robert P. T. Coffin > [This rough magic I here abjure and when I have required some heavenly music, which even now I do, to work mine end upon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/this-rough-magic-i-here-abjure-and-when-i-have-required-some-heavenly/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [When you drop your unnecessary things, you finally can swoop and fly in vast space. It is so blue, so bright, and so nice,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chogyam-trungpa/when-you-drop-your-unnecessary-things-you-finally-can-swoop-and-fly/) [Chogyam Trungpa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chogyam-trungpa/) > [Imagination helps you to recognize the reality of facts, but then to go beyond them, to penetrate beneath them, to rise above them in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilferd-peterson/imagination-helps-you-to-recognize-the-reality-of-facts-but-then-to/) [Wilferd Peterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilferd-peterson/) ## More by Nathaniel Hawthorne > [“there was something of the women molded into the great, stalwart frame of Hollingsworth; nor was he ashamed of it; as men often are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/there-was-something-of-the-women-molded-into-the-great-stalwart-frame/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [The trees reflected in the river - they are unconscious of a spiritual world so near to them. So are we.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-trees-reflected-in-the-river-they-are-unconscious-of-a-spiritual/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“The dismaying thing about the classic totalitarian mind is that any given gear, though mutilated, will have at its circumference unbroken sequences of teeth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-dismaying-thing-about-the-classic-totalitarian-mind-is-that-any/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“My heart was a habitation large enough for many guests, but lonely and chill, and without a household fire, I longed to kindle one!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/my-heart-was-a-habitation-large-enough-for-many-guests-but-lonely-and/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [Wherever there is a heart and an intellect, the diseases of the physical frame are tinged with the peculiarities of these.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/wherever-there-is-a-heart-and-an-intellect-the-diseases-of-the/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-founders-of-a-new-colony-whatever-utopia-of-human-virtue-and/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [Generosity is the flower of justice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/generosity-is-the-flower-of-justice/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“he seemed to be in quest for mental food, not heart sustenance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/he-seemed-to-be-in-quest-for-mental-food-not-heart-sustenance/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“Unfathomable to mere mortals is the lore of fiends.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/unfathomable-to-mere-mortals-is-the-lore-of-fiends/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“Possibly, he was in a state of second growth and recovery, and was constantly assimilating nutriment for his spirit and intellect from sights, sounds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/possibly-he-was-in-a-state-of-second-growth-and-recovery-and-was/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“What wonder, then, should we be frightened by the aspect of a monster, which, after all,—though we can point to every feature of his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/what-wonder-then-should-we-be-frightened-by-the-aspect-of-a-monster/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [As the architecture of a country always follows the earliest structures, American architecture should be a refinement of the log-house. The Egyptian is so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/as-the-architecture-of-a-country-always-follows-the-earliest/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [What we call real estate - the solid ground to build a house on - is the broad foundation on which nearly all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/what-we-call-real-estate-the-solid-ground-to-build-a-house-on-is-the/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [“The bookworm of great libraries.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-bookworm-of-great-libraries/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [There are many things in this world that a child must not ask about.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/there-are-many-things-in-this-world-that-a-child-must-not-ask-about/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) [Explore all 526 Nathaniel Hawthorne quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) ## More Airy quotes > [Imagination helps you to recognize the reality of facts, but then to go beyond them, to penetrate beneath them, to rise above them in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilferd-peterson/imagination-helps-you-to-recognize-the-reality-of-facts-but-then-to/) [Wilferd Peterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilferd-peterson/) > [When you drop your unnecessary things, you finally can swoop and fly in vast space. It is so blue, so bright, and so nice,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chogyam-trungpa/when-you-drop-your-unnecessary-things-you-finally-can-swoop-and-fly/) [Chogyam Trungpa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chogyam-trungpa/) > [This rough magic I here abjure and when I have required some heavenly music, which even now I do, to work mine end upon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/this-rough-magic-i-here-abjure-and-when-i-have-required-some-heavenly/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [My family dumplings are sleek and seductive, yet stout and masculine. They taste of meat, yet of flour. They are wet, yet they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-p-t-coffin/my-family-dumplings-are-sleek-and-seductive-yet-stout-and-masculine/) Robert P. T. Coffin > [When I feel the joy of receiving a gift my heart nudges me to join creation's ballet, the airy dance of giving and receiving,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-b-smedes/when-i-feel-the-joy-of-receiving-a-gift-my-heart-nudges-me-to-join/) [Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-b-smedes/) > [“ Autumn Days Yellow, mellow, ripened days, Sheltered in a golden coating; O'er the dreamy, listless haze, White and dainty cloudlets floating; Winking at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-carleton/autumn-days-yellow-mellow-ripened-days-sheltered-in-a-golden-coating/) [Will Carleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-carleton/) > [But housekeeping is fun. It is one job where you enjoy the results right along as you work. You may work all day washing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gladys-taber/but-housekeeping-is-fun-it-is-one-job-where-you-enjoy-the-results/) [Gladys Taber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gladys-taber/) > [Sorrow itself is not so hard to bear As the thought of sorrow coming. Airy ghosts, That work no harm, do terrify us more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bailey-aldrich/sorrow-itself-is-not-so-hard-to-bear-as-the-thought-of-sorrow-coming/) [Thomas Bailey Aldrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-bailey-aldrich/) > [Mutability is the badge of infirmity. It is seldom that a man continues to wish and design the same thing two days alike. Now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-charron/mutability-is-the-badge-of-infirmity-it-is-seldom-that-a-man/) [Pierre Charron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-charron/) > [How do you know but ev’ry Bird that cuts the airy way, Is an immense world of delight, clos’d by your senses five?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-blake/how-do-you-know-but-ev-ry-bird-that-cuts-the-airy-way-is-an-immense/) [William Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-blake/) > [God washes the eyes by tears until they can behold the invisible land where tears shall come no more. O love! O affliction! ye…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/god-washes-the-eyes-by-tears-until-they-can-behold-the-invisible-land/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [Where are Shakespeare's imagination, Bacon's learning, Galileo's dream? Where is the sweet fancy of Sidney, the airy spirit of Fletcher, and Milton's thought severe?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryan-procter/where-are-shakespeare-s-imagination-bacon-s-learning-galileo-s-dream/) [Bryan Procter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryan-procter/) > [My home kitchen is airy, with a gas stove, a stainless-steel island table in the center and granite countertops. It's very modest but there's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grant-achatz/my-home-kitchen-is-airy-with-a-gas-stove-a-stainless-steel-island/) [Grant Achatz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grant-achatz/) > [At all costs the true world of childhood must prevail, must be restored; that world whose momentous, heroic, mysterious quality is fed on airy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/at-all-costs-the-true-world-of-childhood-must-prevail-must-be/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Society became my glittering bride, And airy hopes my children.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-wordsworth/society-became-my-glittering-bride-and-airy-hopes-my-children/) [William Wordsworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-wordsworth/) Browse all 117 Airy quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Sleeping or waking, we hear not the airy footsteps of the strange things that almost happen.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Nathaniel Hawthorne" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/sleeping-or-waking-we-hear-not-the-airy-footsteps-of-the-strange/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Airy" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/sleeping-or-waking-we-hear-not-the-airy-footsteps-of-the-strange/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/086/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_airy_sleeping-or-waking-we-hear-not-the-airy_2227987.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/086/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_airy_sleeping-or-waking-we-hear-not-the-airy_2227987.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/086/nathaniel-hawthorne-461_airy_sleeping-or-waking-we-hear-not-the-airy_2227987.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Sleeping or waking, we hear not the airy footsteps of the strange things that almost happen.” — Nathaniel Hawthorne", "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": "Nathaniel Hawthorne", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Sleeping or waking, we hear not...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/sleeping-or-waking-we-hear-not-the-airy-footsteps-of-the-strange/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/sleeping-or-waking-we-hear-not-the-airy-footsteps-of-the-strange/#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 } } ] } ```