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Who really said it

There is plenty of time to sleep in the grave

Not William Shakespeare — a paraphrase of Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin 1706–1790 · American statesman, printer & author of Poor Richard’s Almanack
Disputed Free to reuse

This exact wording appears in no play, poem, or sonnet of Shakespeare’s. It is a modernized paraphrase of Benjamin Franklin’s proverb — “There will be sleeping enough in the Grave” — from Poor Richard’s Almanack. The idea is Franklin’s; the smoothed “plenty of time to sleep in the grave” phrasing is a later rewording that circulates online under Shakespeare’s name.

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

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“There is plenty of time to sleep in the grave” Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack (1758). The popular "plenty of time to sleep in the grave" wording is a later paraphrase, not Shakespeare.

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to William Shakespeare. Use the credit shown above instead.

Can you use it?

Free to use, including in commercial and paid presentations — no permission or licence needed.

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In context

Evoking the world of Benjamin Franklin — American statesman, printer & author of Poor Richard's Almanack. Theme: "There is plenty of time to sleep in the grave". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "There is plenty of time to sleep in the grave". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

Where it really comes from

Popularly credited
William Shakespeare (incorrect)
Actual source
Poor Richard’s Almanack
Author
Benjamin Franklin (as “Poor Richard”)
Original wording
“There will be sleeping enough in the Grave.”

How much more than is necessary do we spend in sleep, forgetting that The sleeping Fox catches no Poultry, and that There will be sleeping enough in the Grave, as Poor Richard says.

From Franklin’s 1758 preface later titled The Way to Wealth. An earlier 1741 almanac carries the kindred line “Up, Sluggard, and waste not life; in the grave will be sleeping enough.” Neither reads “There is plenty of time to sleep in the grave” — that is a later paraphrase.

Franklin’s “Poor Richard Improved,” 1758, at Founders Online

How we verified this

  • The line is passed around as Shakespeare on aggregators such as Goodreads, but with no play, act, or scene ever cited.
  • The genuine proverb is Franklin’s: Wikiquote’s Poor Richard’s Almanack records “There will be sleeping enough in the Grave” (1758) and the earlier “in the grave will be sleeping enough” (1741).
  • Franklin wove the maxim into the 1758 preface known as The Way to Wealth, alongside “The sleeping Fox catches no Poultry.”
Public domain

Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack (1733–1758) is centuries old and firmly in the public domain in the United States. The popular “plenty of time to sleep in the grave” wording is an anonymous modern paraphrase of that public-domain proverb and carries no separate protectable authorship.

Fact-check

How Shakespeare got the credit

A feel-good, clever line with no citation is the classic profile of a Shakespeare misattribution — and this one has a real, older author hiding behind it.

William Shakespeare misattributed

Quote aggregators like Goodreads and AZQuotes pin it on Shakespeare, but never name a play, scene, or line — and it appears in none of his works.

Anonymous paraphrase reworded

“There is plenty of time to sleep in the grave” is a modern smoothing; Franklin’s documented forms are “There will be sleeping enough in the Grave” (1758) and “in the grave will be sleeping enough” (1741).

The thought — and the memorable phrasing — belong to Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack, not to Shakespeare.

Context

Why it mattered

Franklin’s maxim is a hustle-culture slogan two centuries early: don’t squander waking life on sleep, because death brings all the rest you’ll ever need. It sat among the thrift-and-industry proverbs Franklin assembled into his 1758 preface, The Way to Wealth — one of the most reprinted texts of early America.

Stripped of Franklin’s name and lightly reworded, the line reads as timeless aphorism, which is exactly why it gravitates to Shakespeare, the internet’s default author for any clever orphaned quote.

There will be sleeping enough in the Grave.

Explore

Filed under

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

Time Work Mortality

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.

Poor Richard Improved, 1758 (The Way to Wealth)founders.archives.gov

Primary text of Franklin’s 1758 preface containing the maxim, at the National Archives.
Poor Richard's Almanacken.wikiquote.org

Sourced Wikiquote entry recording both the 1741 and 1758 forms of the sleep-in-the-grave proverb.
The Way to Wealth (full text)monadnock.net

Complete text showing the maxim in its full sentence with “The sleeping Fox catches no Poultry.”
Benjamin Franklinen.wikiquote.org

Wikiquote page for Franklin, with sourced maxims and misattributions.
Quotes commonly misattributed to Shakespearefolger.edu

Folger Shakespeare Library on why clever orphan quotes routinely land on Shakespeare.
The Shakespeare attribution (aggregator)goodreads.com

Example of the uncited Shakespeare attribution this page corrects.

The real author

About the real author

Benjamin Franklin

1706–1790 · American statesman, printer & author of Poor Richard's Almanack

Benjamin Franklin was a printer, scientist, diplomat and Founding Father whose Poor Richard’s Almanack (published annually 1733–1758) coined or popularized dozens of enduring English proverbs. His maxims prizing industry over idleness — “Early to bed and early to rise,” “The sleeping Fox catches no Poultry” — include the line about sleeping enough in the grave that today drifts, reworded, onto Shakespeare.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source

Benjamin Franklin, “Poor Richard Improved” (1758), in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 7; reprinted as The Way to Wealth. “There will be sleeping enough in the Grave.”

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘There is plenty of time to sleep in the grave’?” Last verified 10 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/there-is-plenty-of-time-to-sleep-in-the-grave

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