# Help me find a quotation about a bad ruler sleeping till noon **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 2, 2025, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-quotation-about-a-bad-ruler-sleeping-till-noon/1025333 "2025-12-02T18:09:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2025, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-quotation-about-a-bad-ruler-sleeping-till-noon/1025333/1 "2025-12-02T18:09:01Z")
This might or might not have been quoted in a _Peanuts_ comic, and if so, the speaker would be Linus Van Pelt. It runs something like this: “A great ruler asked his chief advisor, ‘How might I best benefit my people?’ The advisor replied, “One day, sleep until noon, that for that interval, you might not afflict them.” ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2025, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-quotation-about-a-bad-ruler-sleeping-till-noon/1025333/2 "2025-12-02T18:49:53Z")
> You should sleep late, it’s much easier on your constitution. A little close to … constituents? Half credit? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2025, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-quotation-about-a-bad-ruler-sleeping-till-noon/1025333/3 "2025-12-02T19:04:45Z")
It sounds vaguely like a passage from Aristophanes’ **The Wasps** (though I’m afraid I can’t help much with context): **BDELYCLEON:** Very well then, since you find so much pleasure in it, go down there no more, but stay here and deal out justice to your slaves. **PHILOCLEON:** But what is there to judge? Are you mad? **BDELYCLEON:** Everything as in a tribunal. If a servant opens a door secretly, you inflict upon him a simple fine; that’s what you have repeatedly done down there. Everything can be arranged to suit you. If it is warm in the morning, you can judge in the sunlight; if it is snowing, then seated at your fire; if it rains, you go indoors; and **if you don’t rise till noon, there will be no Thesmothetes to exclude you from the precincts**. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2025, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-quotation-about-a-bad-ruler-sleeping-till-noon/1025333/4 "2025-12-02T20:17:06Z")
I’m also almost sure it’s in _Peanuts_ somewhere. Linus telling the story to either Charlie Brown or Lucy, who acts entirely as straight man (never saying a word if I recall correctly), and Snoopy making some remark at the end to serve as a punchline, probably “Back to bed.” It can be hard to find old Peanuts strips online, even when you know the exact words, but I’ll keep looking. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2025, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-quotation-about-a-bad-ruler-sleeping-till-noon/1025333/5 "2025-12-02T20:24:05Z")
Well, I was close, and the OP was close as well: **Charlie _(Snoopy listens as Charlie is reading to Linus)_: “An unjust king asked a holy man, ‘What is more excellent than prayer?’ The holy man said: ‘For you to remain asleep till midday, that for this one interval you may not afflict mankind.’”** **Snoopy: _(walks through the yard and gets on top of his dog box)_ “Back to bed!”** This is from [https://www.facebook.com/groups/238977156555480/posts/1101652036954650](https://www.facebook.com/groups/238977156555480/posts/1101652036954650), which is quoting the original strip rather than showing it. Also, there’s no date for the original. But the quote sounds right. And a little further googling reveals [أهلاً و سهلاً في موقع الوراق - Arabic books Library](https://alwaraq.net/book-view/606/78) , scroll down to 37, where the quote appears. Looks like Fitzgerald’s translation of an Islamic text, not sure which one; the section is titled “Grandeur and Decline of Islam.” ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2025, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-quotation-about-a-bad-ruler-sleeping-till-noon/1025333/6 "2025-12-02T22:14:39Z")
Brilliant! I couldn’t load the Facebook page, but googling the exact quote (thank you) turned up some good references, one of which led back to a book that just happens to be on my shelf - Will Durant’s _The Age of Faith_. The quote is from the poet Sa’di, in a collection called the _Gulistan_, or _Rose Garden_, in 1258. Sa’di is the same poet, apparently, who complained that he had no shoes until he met a man who had no feet. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2025, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-quotation-about-a-bad-ruler-sleeping-till-noon/1025333/7 "2025-12-02T22:30:49Z")
Cool! You’re most welcome, happy to help. I knew it was familiar from _Peanuts_. And how neat you had the quote in one of the books on your shelf. I like both of these quotes from Sa’di–may have to check out what else he’d written. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2025, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-quotation-about-a-bad-ruler-sleeping-till-noon/1025333/8 "2025-12-02T23:03:22Z")
And then he took that guy’s shoes, because what did he need them for? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2025, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-quotation-about-a-bad-ruler-sleeping-till-noon/1025333/9 "2025-12-02T23:28:56Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > Sa’di is the same poet, apparently, who complained that he had no shoes until he met a man who had no feet. I had almost that actual experience in real life. I injured myself on the job, where I badly stubbed my toe to the point where it swelled up and turned purple. I could walk with a slight limp, but it was painful. I was told by my employer to go to a specific doctor, because I needed to be treated by someone that the company will pay for who can report back to the company. I didn’t even think it was something bad enough to see a doctor about, it looked bad but didn’t hurt that badly and it wasn’t affecting my ability to do anything, but if your employer demands you do something, you do it. I go to the doctor’s office as told. And after waiting in the waiting room, and getting my vitals checked by a nurse, I sit in the examination room, and in rolls a doctor in a wheelchair. “What’s the issue today?” “Um… I stubbed my toe and it seems like it’s bruised. I can walk, it just hurts a little.” I felt like such an ass complaining to this doctor about my insignificant toe injury, but again, it wasn’t my choice. And sure enough, just a bruise, I was told to put ice on it to reduce the swelling and take some OTC pain medicine for the pain. It didn’t need a cast or splint or boot or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2025, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-quotation-about-a-bad-ruler-sleeping-till-noon/1025333/10 "2025-12-03T00:49:22Z")
I hope you don’t feel too bad about that because it’s pretty funny and you were doing a reasonable thing, and I’m sure the doctor knew that. It’s like saying a broken leg is unworthy of attention because some people don’t have legs (I honestly hate that quote. Gratitude needs to come from within, as a personal choice, rather than have someone morally superior badger it in to you. That’s just my opinion.)