Origin
From the celebrated 'to be, or not to be' speech in Shakespeare's Hamlet, 1602:
HAMLET:
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
I love to dream. It's a whole other life for me. I've lived two, possibly three, lives as it were. I have flown over fields, fought dragons, spoken with long dead relatives, went to school naked, tasted ambrosia, smelled freshly cut grass while hearing air raid sirens. All through the glorious power of sleep and dreams.
And so I must ask, what of your dreams?
