'Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.'

'All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.'

- "The Lord of the Rings" author JRR Tolkien (1892-1973)

A quote by Florence Nightingale

"Poetry and imagination begin life."

'I can’t go back to yesterday–because I was a different person then.'

- "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" author Lewis Carroll (1832 - 1898)

'The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.'

- Poet Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)

'Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world.'

- Albert Einstein

'We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.'

- Playwright Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

'Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.'

- Inventor Thomas Edison (1847 - 1931)

Peruse the works of spooky 19th-century writer Edgar Allen Poe

Edgar Allen Poe is one of the central figures of Gothic and Romantic literature of the 19th century, penning famous short stories like "The Tell-Tale Heart" and the long poem "The Raven." This digital library collects over 130 of his works in one...

'I am a writer who came from a sheltered life. A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within.'

- American novelist Eudora Welty (1909-2001)

'It's those who lie outside ordinary experience who have the most to teach us.'

- Author Malcolm Gladwell (1963 - present)

'Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not.'

- Pablo Picasso

'The fact is always obvious much too late, but the most singular difference between happiness and joy is that happiness is a solid and joy a liquid.'

-Writer J.D. Salinger (1919-2010)

During dream sleep, the brain connects new information learned during the day with information already stored in the mind, creating a revised mind-wide web of associations.

We dream for around two hours each night, on average, but the exact purposes of dreams remains under investigation.

Sleep is no longer considered a binary state—scientists are seeking to map a variety of liminal states between sleep and waking, including the hypnagogic state associated with boosts of creativity.

'The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year.'

- Mark Twain, from "Pudd'nhead Wilson and Other Tales"

'Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul—and sings the tunes without the words—and never stops at all.'

- Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

A quote by Lauren Bacall

"Imagination is the highest kite one can fly."

Sleeping on a problem does seem to help—in fact research published in 2026 suggests scientists can seed people's dreams with sound cues about a difficult puzzle during REM sleep and they'll be better able to solve it.

Alfred Hitchcock's 1945 film 'Spellbound,' starring Ingrid Bergman, features a surreal scene designed by Salvador Dalí.

'Her own thoughts and reflections were habitually her best companions.'

- Legendary author Jane Austen (1775 -1817)

Dreams have long been used for religious and political power.

'Everything you look at can become a fairy tale and you can get a story from everything you touch.'

- Danish author Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875)

A quote by Herman Melville

"Whoever is not in the possession of leisure can hardly be said to possess independence."

'It might be that some day I shall be drowned by the sea, or die of pneumonia from sleeping out at night, or be robbed and strangled by strangers. These things happen. Even so, I shall be ahead because of trusting the beach, the night and strangers.'

-Janet Reno, the US' first female attorney general (1938-2016)

'The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.'

- Marine biologist and environmentalist Rachel Carson (1907-1964)

A quote by Howard Hughes

"Do the impossible, because almost everyone has told me my ideas are merely fantasies."

The dreaming brain, as understood by scientists

Technology has advanced to where the seemingly separate fields of psychology and neuroscience are asking the same questions about dreams, such as whether they're more closely related to perception or visualization. Some field-intersecting findings include research that shows people with impaired face perception don't dream of faces, those with brain legion-related cognition difficulties deal with similar issues in dreams, and children's dreams change in parallel to their cognitive development.

'And I knew that it was better to live out one's absurdity than to die for that of others.'

-Ralph Ellison, from "Invisible Man" (1913-1994)

'The earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at first, Nature is rude and incomprehensible at first, Be not discouraged, keep on, there are divine things well envelop'd.'

- Poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

'In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.'

-Poet Robert Frost (1874-1963)

'If there is poetry in my book about the sea, it is not because I deliberately put it there, but because no one could write truthfully about the sea and leave out the poetry.'

- Marine biologist and author Rachel Carson (1907-1964)

'I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot ... The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.'

- Author Jack London (1876 - 1916)

An estimated 1 in 250 people—a small subset of the population—reports they've never remembered a single dream.

'There cannot be mental atrophy in any person who continues to observe, to remember what he observes, and to seek answers for his unceasing hows and whys about things.'

-Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922)

How your subconscious influences your decisions

How much of your desires and daily choices are truly yours? One of the most effective ways to influence someone's subconscious is when they're asleep. To study this possibility, researchers trained participants to be able to dream lucidly, a phenomenon that occurs when a dreamer knows they're dreaming.

Charles Dickens' pet raven likely inspired Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Raven.'

'Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.'

- Bobby Kennedy

'An idea is salvation by imagination.'

- US architect Frank Lloyd Wright

'I'm always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up every morning ... Every day I find something creative to do with my life.'

- Miles Davis (1926-1991)

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote the entire first draft of 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' in a frantic three days, only to burn it out of disgust.

'Fear of life closes off more opportunities for us than fear of death ever does.'

- Actress Agnes Moorehead (1900–1974)

The study of dreams, formally called oneirology, has evolved over the centuries, from anecdotal interpretations to advanced brain imaging.

'I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.'

- Author Douglas Adams (1952-2001)

'I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself.'

- Actress and singer Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992)

Nightmares are unpredictable, but are linked to stress, anxiety, trauma, and more.

Read the poetry of Henry David Thoreau

Although primarily known for his nonfiction, the New England transcendentalist was also a prolific poet, writing verse that, like his essays, tackled nature, man, and society. The Academy of American Poets has collected 30 of his poems, which you can read for free.

'Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog' is an iconic romantic artwork

Caspar David Friedrich’s painting portrays man’s fascination with the natural world and emphasizes his smallness in the midst of its grandeur, epitomizing Edmund Burke's concept of "the sublime."

'Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.'

- Maya Angelou

'The best way to make a dream come true is to wake up.'

- Fashion icon Anna Wintour (1949 – present)