At some point maybe we accept the dream has become a nightmare. We tell ourselves that reality is better. We convince ourselves it's better that we never dream at all. But, the strongest of us, the most determined of us, holds on to the dream or we find ourselves faced with a fresh dream we never considered. We wake to find ourselves, against all odds, feeling hopeful. And, if we're lucky, we realize in the face of everything, in the face of life the true dream is being able to dream at all.
Meredith Grey in Grey's Anatomy - Season 3 Episode 23
20Steven King once wrote that nightmares exist outside of logic and there's little fun to be had in explanations. They're antithetical to the poetry of fear. In a horror story the victim keeps asking why, but there can be no explanation and there shouldn't be one. The unanswered mystery is what stays with us the longest and is what we'll remember in the end. My name is Alan Wake, I'm a writer.
Every night, I dream the same dream. Then, the nightmare begins.
Stephen Strange in Doctor Strange - in the Multiverse of Madness
I've gotten so used to nightmares, I almost forgot what it's like to dream.
The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window - Season 1 Episode 1
I'm not wearing any pants! Oh oh. So that's what human nightmares are like.