--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There are few things in the world as…" description: "\"There are few things in the world as dangerous as sleepwalkers.\" — Ralph Ellison" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/885/ralph-ellison-2676_dangerous_there-are-few-things-in-the-world-as-dan_2802646.png" --- # There are few things in the world as dangerous as… ![“There are few things in the world as dangerous as sleepwalkers.” quote by Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/885/ralph-ellison-2676_dangerous_there-are-few-things-in-the-world-as-dan_2802646.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/885/ralph-ellison-2676_dangerous_there-are-few-things-in-the-world-as-dan_2802646.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/885/ralph-ellison-2676_dangerous_there-are-few-things-in-the-world-as-dan_2802646.png) > “There are few things in the world as dangerous as sleepwalkers.” [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Sleepwalking through life, unexamined, is perilous because it prevents authentic self‑awareness. **In simple terms:** Unexamined living is dangerous. Key Takeaway Stay aware, avoid autopilot. Themes awareness danger authenticity Mood cautious reflective Type advisory philosophical When to use this quote - daily routines - political activism - personal reflection - mental health Key Concepts psychology philosophy Questions to Reflect On - How do you recognize when you’re “sleepwalking”? - What steps foster conscious living? A Different Perspective Some may view vigilance as anxiety‑inducing. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Sleep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sleep/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [I remember that I'm invisible and walk softly so as not awake the sleeping ones. Sometimes it is best not to awaken them; there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/i-remember-that-i-m-invisible-and-walk-softly-so-as-not-awake-the/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [A perpetually new and lively world, but a dangerous one, full of tragedy and injustice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-cary/a-perpetually-new-and-lively-world-but-a-dangerous-one-full-of/) [Joyce Cary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-cary/) > [“The world is a dangerous place (...) There will always be blurred boundaries. There are plenty of good bad guys and bad good guys.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-james/the-world-is-a-dangerous-place-there-will-always-be-blurred/) [Peter James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-james/) > [Ken Shamrock is the World's Most Dangerous Man? Maybe behind the wheel of a car.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-frye/ken-shamrock-is-the-world-s-most-dangerous-man-maybe-behind-the-wheel/) [Don Frye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-frye/) > [The world is too dangerous to live in, not becouse of the people who do evil,but becouse of the people who just sit and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-world-is-too-dangerous-to-live-in-not-becouse-of-the-people-who/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“You are all sleepwalkers, whether climbing creative peaks or slogging through some mundane routine for the thousandth time. You are all sleepwalkers.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-watts/you-are-all-sleepwalkers-whether-climbing-creative-peaks-or-slogging/) [Peter Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-watts/) > [“Sleepwalkers, leave other sleepwalkers alone!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/sleepwalkers-leave-other-sleepwalkers-alone/) [Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/) > [This city belongs to ghosts, to murderers, to sleepwalkers. Where are you, in what bed, in what dream?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-yourcenar/this-city-belongs-to-ghosts-to-murderers-to-sleepwalkers-where-are/) [Marguerite Yourcenar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-yourcenar/) > [“In this sense, the protagonists of 1914 were sleepwalkers, watchful but unseeing, haunted by dreams, yet blind to the reality of the horror they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-clark/in-this-sense-the-protagonists-of-1914-were-sleepwalkers-watchful-but/) Christopher Clark > [“The people who denied who they were or where they had been were in the greatest danger. They were blind sleepwalkers on tightropes, fingers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-finch/the-people-who-denied-who-they-were-or-where-they-had-been-were-in/) [Janet Finch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-finch/) > [“We have to accept that human culture is in a mass hypnotic trance. We’re sleepwalkers.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/we-have-to-accept-that-human-culture-is-in-a-mass-hypnotic-trance-we/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [Every concert pianist knows that the surest way to ruin a performance is to be aware of what the fingers are doing. Every dancer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-watts/every-concert-pianist-knows-that-the-surest-way-to-ruin-a-performance/) [Peter Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-watts/) > [“Almost anyone could be Fascist under the right circumstances. If they get scared enough. It's because, you see, most people live their lives like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-shirley/almost-anyone-could-be-fascist-under-the-right-circumstances-if-they/) [John Shirley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-shirley/) > [“London? It's a city full of sleepwalkers chasing other people's dreams.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-merrick/london-it-s-a-city-full-of-sleepwalkers-chasing-other-people-s-dreams/) [Steve Merrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-merrick/) > [Something that has not been said about the moon? That it gives manicures to women sleepwalkers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ram-n-g-mez-de-la-serna/something-that-has-not-been-said-about-the-moon-that-it-gives/) [Ramon Gomez De La Serna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ram-n-g-mez-de-la-serna/) ## More by Ralph Ellison > [“Civil wars...are the best wars for the writer...because they have a way of continuing long afterwl wars between nations are resolved; because, with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/civil-wars-are-the-best-wars-for-the-writer-because-they-have-a-way/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [“But what a feeling can come over a man just from seeing the things he believes in and hopes for symbolized in the concrete…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/but-what-a-feeling-can-come-over-a-man-just-from-seeing-the-things-he/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [I suspect that all the agony that goes into writing is borne precisely because the writer longs for acceptance-but it must be acceptance on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/i-suspect-that-all-the-agony-that-goes-into-writing-is-borne/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [Everywhere I've turned somebody has wanted to sacrifice me for my own good—only /they/ were the ones who benefited. And now we start on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/everywhere-i-ve-turned-somebody-has-wanted-to-sacrifice-me-for-my-own/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [Power, for the writer…lies in his ability to reveal if only a little bit more about the complexity of humanity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/power-for-the-writer-lies-in-his-ability-to-reveal-if-only-a-little/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [...and yet I am what they think I am.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/and-yet-i-am-what-they-think-i-am/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [And while the ice was melting to form a flood in which I threatened to drown I awoke one afternoon to find that my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/and-while-the-ice-was-melting-to-form-a-flood-in-which-i-threatened/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [“Do they come to bury the others or to be entombed to give life or to receive it?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/do-they-come-to-bury-the-others-or-to-be-entombed-to-give-life-or-to/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [“They could laugh at him but they couldn't ignore him”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/they-could-laugh-at-him-but-they-couldn-t-ignore-him/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [Commercial rock 'n' roll music is a brutalization of the stream of contemporary Negro church music an obscene looting of a cultural expression.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/commercial-rock-n-roll-music-is-a-brutalization-of-the-stream-of/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [“All dreamers and sleepwalkers must pay the price, and even the invisible victim is responsible for the fate of all.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/all-dreamers-and-sleepwalkers-must-pay-the-price-and-even-the/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [“Those two spots are among the darkest of our whole civilization--pardon me, our whole culture (an important distinction, I've heard)--which might sound like a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/those-two-spots-are-among-the-darkest-of-our-whole-civilization/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [“Above the decorous walking around me, sounds of footsteps leaving the verandas of far-flung buildings and moving toward the walks and over the walks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/above-the-decorous-walking-around-me-sounds-of-footsteps-leaving-the/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [And my problem was that I always tried to go in everyone's way but my own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/and-my-problem-was-that-i-always-tried-to-go-in-everyone-s-way-but-my/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [I am one of the most irresponsible beings that ever lived. Irresponsibility is part of my invisibility; any way you face it, it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/i-am-one-of-the-most-irresponsible-beings-that-ever-lived/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) [Explore all 154 Ralph Ellison quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) ## More Dangerous quotes > [So the fool, as distinct from the scoundrel, is completely self- satisfied; in fact, he can easily become dangerous, as it does not take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/so-the-fool-as-distinct-from-the-scoundrel-is-completely-self/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [Every one knows that the exercise of military power is forever dangerous to civil rights; and we have had recent instances of violences that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-adams/every-one-knows-that-the-exercise-of-military-power-is-forever/) [Samuel Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-adams/) > [ Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. My three \[great teachers\] did not… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/teaching-might-even-be-the-greatest-of-the-arts-since-the-medium-is/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [We're not very dangerous animals; we don't have a horn like a rhino or quills like a porcupine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-fisher/we-re-not-very-dangerous-animals-we-don-t-have-a-horn-like-a-rhino-or/) [Helen Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-fisher/) > [“It is dangerous to lock oneself away and lose track of what is happening outside.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-hardinge/it-is-dangerous-to-lock-oneself-away-and-lose-track-of-what-is/) [Frances Hardinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-hardinge/) > [Its extremely dangerous to compare anyone else to Shakespeare.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-spacey/its-extremely-dangerous-to-compare-anyone-else-to-shakespeare/) [Kevin Spacey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-spacey/) > [In my youth-team days, I was always a left-winger who would stay close to the byline and put crosses in the box, so I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arjen-robben/in-my-youth-team-days-i-was-always-a-left-winger-who-would-stay-close/) [Arjen Robben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arjen-robben/) > [The temptations of God were always more dangerous for mankind than those of Satan.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/the-temptations-of-god-were-always-more-dangerous-for-mankind-than/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) > [When you start talking about elections being rigged, you're pushing people beyond democratic governance. And it's a very, very dangerous thing to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-springsteen/when-you-start-talking-about-elections-being-rigged-you-re-pushing/) [Bruce Springsteen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-springsteen/) > [The Patriot Act is certainly a concern; all of those things are dangerous. I think more important than me preaching is that we as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-clooney/the-patriot-act-is-certainly-a-concern-all-of-those-things-are/) [George Clooney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-clooney/) > [Die gefährlichste Weltanschauung ist die Weltanschauung derer, die die Welt nie angeschaut haben. (The most dangerous worldview is the worldview of those who have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-von-humboldt/die-gef-hrlichste-weltanschauung-ist-die-weltanschauung-derer-die-die/) [Alexander von Humboldt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-von-humboldt/) > [The most dangerous creature here would have to be me. So maybe I'm just scared of my own shadow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/the-most-dangerous-creature-here-would-have-to-be-me-so-maybe-i-m/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [The more people that learn about you, even if you're an underdog, then you can come under fire a lot and the more attention…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerard-way/the-more-people-that-learn-about-you-even-if-you-re-an-underdog-then/) [Gerard Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerard-way/) > [Anyone who maintains absolute standards of good and evil is dangerous. As dangerous as a maniac with a loaded revolver.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/anyone-who-maintains-absolute-standards-of-good-and-evil-is-dangerous/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [The proliferation of right-to-carry laws throughout the states has drawn plaintive complaints from the criminal element. They feel that it makes their profession too…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-cooper/the-proliferation-of-right-to-carry-laws-throughout-the-states-has/) [Jeff Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-cooper/) Browse all 6,450 Dangerous quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There are few things in the world as dangerous as sleepwalkers.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ralph Ellison" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/there-are-few-things-in-the-world-as-dangerous-as-sleepwalkers/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Dangerous" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/there-are-few-things-in-the-world-as-dangerous-as-sleepwalkers/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/885/ralph-ellison-2676_dangerous_there-are-few-things-in-the-world-as-dan_2802646.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/885/ralph-ellison-2676_dangerous_there-are-few-things-in-the-world-as-dan_2802646.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/885/ralph-ellison-2676_dangerous_there-are-few-things-in-the-world-as-dan_2802646.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There are few things in the world as dangerous as sleepwalkers.” — Ralph Ellison", "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": "Ralph Ellison", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "There are few things in the...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/there-are-few-things-in-the-world-as-dangerous-as-sleepwalkers/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/there-are-few-things-in-the-world-as-dangerous-as-sleepwalkers/#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 } } ] } ```