31 Quotes About Rest, Relaxation & Slowing Down

young woman with curly brown hair in a bun sitting cross legged next to a book shelf and reading
To do nothing is to hold yourself still so that you can perceive what is actually there.
Jenny Odell

Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare
Audre Lorde

The opposite of rest isn’t work...it’s burnout
Nicola McCaffrey

Inhale the future, exhale the past.
Unknown

Sleep is the best meditation.
Dalai Lama

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.
Sir John Lubbuck

Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer.
William Burroughs

The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.
Rumi

Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.
Anne Lamott

Rest and be thankful.
William Wordsworth

Although many of us may think of ourselves as thinking creatures that feel, biologically we are feeling creatures that think.
Jill Bolte Taylor

Peace is only a thought away, and all we have to do to access it is silence the voice of our dominating left mind.
Jill Bolte Taylor

A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book.
Irish Proverb

Your future depends on your dreams, so go to sleep.
Mesut Barazany

We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.
William Shakespeare

A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work.
John Lubbock

To rest is to receive the gift of renewal that the body and mind need.
Jillian Pransky

woman with curly hair in an updo sitting in lotus pose with hands at heart center in a modern kitchen

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Your calm mind is the ultimate weapon against your challenges. So relax.
Bryant McGill

Stress and confusion come from being busy. Peace and clarity come from slowing down and stilling your waters.
Maxime Lagacé

Taking time to do nothing often brings everything into perspective.
Doe Zantamata

Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.
Etty Hillesum

Resting isn’t an afterthought, but a basic part of being human.
Tricia Hersey

We must believe we are worthy of rest. We don’t have to earn it. It is our birthright. It is one of our most ancient and primal needs.
Tricia Hersey

Release the shame you feel when resting. It does not belong to you
Tricia Hersey

Sleep: Nothing else could ever bring me such pleasure, such freedom, the power to feel and move and think and imagine, safe from the miseries of my waking consciousness.
Ottessa Moshfegh

Survival is not the end goal for liberation. We must thrive. We must rest.
Tricia Hersey

The speed of time varied, fast or slow, depending on the depth of my sleep. My favorite days were the ones that barely registered.
Ottessa Moshfegh

I suggest that we reimagine #FOMO as #NOMO, the necessity of missing out.
Jenny Odell

If we can render a new reality together—with attention—perhaps we can meet each other there.
Jenny Odell

There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep
Homer

young woman with curly brown hair relaxing on the sofa and calmly writing in a robins eggs blue notebook
We are all geniuses when we dream.
Emile M. Cioran

Insomnia is a glamorous term for thoughts you forgot to have in the day.
Alain de Botton

Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night.
William Dement

Survival requires threat detection and the activation of a survival response. Thriving demands the opposite—the inhibition of a survival response so that social engagement can happen. Without the capacity for activation, inhibition, and flexibility of response, we suffer.
Deb Dana

If we are not safe, we are chronically in a state of evaluation and defensiveness.
Stephen W. Porges

You might not remember it - but your nervous system does.
Unknown

You deserve a life that feels good for your nervous system.
Unknown

without the night, we would never see the stars
Stephanie Meyer

Hope is a waking dream.
Aristotle

It takes enormous trust and courage to allow yourself to remember.
Bessel A. van der Kolk

Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.
Gloria Steinam

Lose your mind and come to your senses.
Fritz Perls

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