"Sleeping is no mean art: for its sake one must stay awake all day"

Friedrich Nietzsche’s statement, “Sleeping is no mean art: for its sake one must stay awake all day,” suggests a reflective meditation on the value of both sleep and wakefulness. To call sleeping “no mean art” is to elevate it , sleep is not trivial or a simple biological function but a skill or art that demands its own respect. Nietzsche reframes the commonplace notion of sleep from a passive activity to an achievement, something deserving of preparation.

The phrase “for its sake one must stay awake all day” adds a paradoxical twist. Rather than seeing wakefulness as the main event and sleep as mere rest, Nietzsche implies that wakefulness is preparation for the moment of rest, aligning with his broader contemplations on dualities and the interplay of opposites. The capacity to sleep well becomes grounded not just in the act of lying down, but in how one engages with the day’s waking hours: to truly “earn” one’s rest, to appreciate or be capable of sound sleep, a person must be attentive, alert, and present during the day. If wakefulness is squandered in lethargy or distraction, perhaps sleep, true restful, recuperative sleep, cannot be fully achieved.

Implicit in the statement is also a playful inversion of usual values. Modernity often elevates productivity, waking life, and conscious activity above rest. Nietzsche’s aphorism questions this, asking what it is we live for, to be constantly awake and active, or, perhaps paradoxically, to prepare ourselves for the peace of sleep? There is also a subtle commentary on discipline and self-mastery. The art of sleep is achieved by abstaining from idle slumber throughout the day, by living with full presence and wakefulness so that sleep, when it comes, is deep and well-earned as a natural counterbalance to action.

Nietzsche’s insight, characteristically paradoxical, suggests that both sleep and wakefulness possess dignity and complement one another, and that care, discipline, and intentionality in one realm yield harmony in the other.