— Divan-e-Ghalib, from the ghazal "koi ummeed bar nahin aati"
About this quote
देवनागरी:
मौत का एक दिन मुअय्यन है
नींद क्यों रात भर नहीं आती
English: The day of death is fixed — then why does sleep not come all night?
Meaning: If the end is already scheduled, worry changes nothing — so why the insomnia? Ghalib catches the absurdity of anxiety in one homely image: dreading a certainty as if vigilance could postpone it.
अर्थ: मौत का दिन तो तय है — फिर रात भर नींद क्यों नहीं आती? जो टल नहीं सकता उसकी फ़िक्र में जागना — इंसानी बेचैनी पर सबसे सटीक शेर।
An authentic couplet from the Divan-e-Ghalib, the collected Urdu ghazals of Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib (1797–1869), from the ghazal beginning “koi ummeed bar nahin aati”. Transliteration and English rendering are our own.
