Rene Magritte
Surrealist Artist
"If the dream is a translation of waking life, waking life is also a translation of the dream."
Waking Life quotes
Waking Life
21 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
George Santayana
Philosopher, Poet
"Work and love these are the basics; waking life is a dream controlled."
Carl Jung
Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst
"In sleep, fantasy takes the form of dreams. But in waking life, too, we continue to dream beneath the threshold of consciousness, especially when under the influence of repressed or other unconscious complexes."
Cormac McCarthy
Novelist, Screenwriter
"Our waking life's desire to shape the world to our convenience invites all manner of paradox and difficulty."
Robert Louis Stevenson
Author, Poet
"Suicide carried off many. Drink and the devil took care of the rest"
Explore further
Topics related to Waking Life
Browse quotes that often appear alongside waking life — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Waking Life quotes (page 1 of 2)
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"I do not believe that I am now dreaming, but I cannot prove that I am not. I am, however, quite certain that I am having certain experiences, whether they be those of a dream or those of waking life."
Read quote
3 likes
"It is obviously possible that what we call waking life may only be an unusual and persistent nightmare."
Read quote
3 likes
"What plethora of material goods can possibly atone for a waking life so humanly belittling, if not degrading, as the push-button tasks left to human performers?"
Read quote
3 likes
"Either one does not dream, or one does so interestingly. One should learn to spend one's waking life in the same way: not at all, or interestingly."
Read quote
3 likes