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Who really said it

Hope is the dream of a waking man

Spoken by Aristotle 384–322 BC · Greek philosopher; founder of the Lyceum
Verified Free to reuse

The line is a genuine Aristotle saying — but a reported one. It survives in Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers V.18, a list of Aristotle’s witty replies: asked what hope is, he answered “the dream of a waking man.” That exact wording is C. D. Yonge’s 1853 translation ↗; R. D. Hicks’s Loeb renders the same reply “a waking dream.” It is not found in any of Aristotle’s own surviving treatises — the biographer recorded it roughly five centuries after his death.

Last verified 10 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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“Hope is the dream of a waking man” Aristotle, quoted in Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers V.18 (trans. C. D. Yonge, 1853)

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Provenance

The source

Source
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, Book V (Aristotle), §18
Original
Greek; compiled c. 3rd century AD, reporting a saying of Aristotle (d. 322 BC)
Translation
C. D. Yonge, 1853 (Henry G. Bohn) — source of the exact English wording
Also rendered
“a waking dream” in R. D. Hicks’s Loeb translation (1925)

Once he was asked what grew old most speedily, and he replied, ‘Gratitude.’ On another occasion the question was put to him, what hope is? and his answer was, ‘The dream of a waking man.’ In context

Diogenes Laërtius, Lives V.18, trans. C. D. Yonge (1853). The hope reply sits amid a run of Aristotle’s apophthegms.

Primary text — Book V, §18
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives V.18 on Perseus
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives V.18 (C. D. Yonge translation)

How we traced it

Public domain

The saying reaches us only through Diogenes Laërtius (Greek, c. 3rd century AD), long in the public domain, and its exact English wording is C. D. Yonge’s 1853 translation — also public domain, published well before 1931.

This reflects the original work, which is public domain. If your exact English wording comes from a specific modern translation, that translation may itself still be under copyright — check the edition you quote.

Fact-check

What’s muddled about it

The attribution to Aristotle is genuine, but two things get widely confused — the exact wording, and where the line actually comes from.

“Hope is a waking dream” Same passage

This shorter form (used by BrainyQuote, Forbes and others) and “the dream of a waking man” are not competing quotes — they are two translations of the identical reply in Diogenes Laërtius: R. D. Hicks’s Loeb gives “a waking dream,” while C. D. Yonge’s 1853 text ↗ gives “the dream of a waking man.”

Aristotle’s own writings Not the source

The line appears in none of Aristotle’s surviving treatises. It is an apophthegm recorded by his biographer Diogenes Laërtius, Lives V.18 ↗, roughly five centuries after Aristotle’s death — a reported saying, not a written one.

The attribution holds: Aristotle, asked what hope is, answered “the dream of a waking man” — as preserved in Diogenes Laërtius, Lives V.18 (C. D. Yonge, 1853 ↗).

Context

Why it endures

Diogenes Laërtius devoted a passage of his life of Aristotle to the philosopher’s quick, aphoristic replies. Asked in turn what a friend is, what grows old fastest, and what hope is, Aristotle answered each with a single memorable image. Hope, he said, is what a waking person dreams — a vision entertained with the eyes open.

The metaphor has outlived its source. Detached from Diogenes Laërtius and Aristotle’s surrounding wit, it now circulates as a standalone motto of optimism, its two-translation split (“waking dream” vs. “dream of a waking man”) rarely noticed by those who share it.

Hope is what a waking person dreams — a vision held with the eyes open.

The passage around it

In Yonge’s rendering the hope reply is immediately preceded by “Once he was asked what grew old most speedily, and he replied, ‘Gratitude,’” and followed by the anecdote of Diogenes the Cynic offering Aristotle a dried fig.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Hope

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Diogenes Laërtius, Lives V.18 (Hicks/Perseus)perseus.tufts.edu

The primary source passage, in R. D. Hicks’s translation (“a waking dream”).
Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, Book Ven.wikisource.org

Full public-domain text of Book V, covering Aristotle.
Wikiquote: Aristotle (sourced)en.wikiquote.org

Lists the line in the sourced section, citing Yonge’s translation, p. 187.
C. D. Yonge translation, Book Vstoicbreviary.blogspot.com

The 1853 Yonge text giving the exact wording “the dream of a waking man.”
Loeb Classical Library: Diogenes Laërtius 5.1loebclassics.com

Scholarly Greek-and-English edition of the Aristotle life (Hicks).

The philosopher behind the line

About Aristotle

Aristotle

384–322 BC · Greek philosopher & polymath; founder of the Lyceum

Aristotle of Stagira (384–322 BC) studied under Plato, tutored Alexander the Great, and founded the Lyceum in Athens. His surviving treatises — on logic, ethics, physics, biology, poetics and politics — shaped Western thought for two millennia. This particular saying, however, comes not from those works but from a collection of his reported bons mots preserved by the later biographer Diogenes Laërtius.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source — Chicago

Diogenes Laërtius. The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, Book V.18. Translated by C. D. Yonge. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1853, p. 187.

MLA (9th ed.)

Diogenes Laërtius. The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers. Translated by C. D. Yonge, Henry G. Bohn, 1853, bk. 5, sec. 18, p. 187.

APA (7th ed.)

Diogenes Laërtius. (1853). The lives and opinions of eminent philosophers (C. D. Yonge, Trans.). Henry G. Bohn. (Original work published c. 3rd century CE)

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Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Hope is the dream of a waking man’?” Last verified 10 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/hope-is-the-dream-of-a-waking-man

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