Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience - this is the ideal life.
Sleepy Conscience Mean
What did Mark Twain mean by a sleepy conscience?
To understand the meaning of ‘a sleepy conscience‘ from Mark Twain’s quote, let’s break up the two words.
First, let’s talk about the word ‘conscience‘.
In the simplest definition, your conscience is your inner feeling or voice acting as a guide to your actions or intentions are either morally right or wrong.
It is your so-called moral compass to remind you of the difference between the right and the wrong direction.
This voice of conscience is also known as the superego as define in Sigmund Freud‘s psychoanalytic theory.
Conscience is the moral part of your personality, which determines your personal standards of right and wrong.
Now, let’s check on the word ‘sleepy‘.
When you feel sleepy or drowsy, your mind is too tired to be overly concerned with what’s happening, and what’s right or wrong.
You would just brush off, and muttered, “Well, whatever“.
So, having a ‘a sleepy conscience‘ means it’s not that you stop having conscience; it’s just that you tolerate and take it easy.
In this context, the word ‘sleepy‘ can mean complacent, easy-going or uninterested.
In other words, you just let go and not to treat life too seriously.
In short, take it easy, and live and let live.
To sum it up, Mark Twain’s definition of a perfect or desired life, he needed the company of good friends around, enjoy reading good books, and take life easy.
This is what I mean by sleepy conscience in Mark Twain’s quote which he wrote in the Austrian Archduchess Marie Theresa‘s album.
Mark Twain Conscience Quotes
Here are two more conscience quotes by Mark Twain:
“An uneasy conscience is a hair in the mouth.” – Mark Twain
(The Complete Works Of Mark Twain: Mark Twain’s Notebook, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1935, Ch.XXXV, Closing Years, P. 392)