No human being believes that any other human being has a right to be in bed when he himself is up.

Lynd’s aphorism satirizes a common, half-unconscious moral reflex: we treat our own wakefulness and industry as the default standard, and feel a proprietary irritation at others’ rest. The joke exposes how easily “virtue” becomes comparative and coercive—less about what is good for oneself than about policing the behavior of others. It also hints at the social pressure behind early rising and visible busyness, where idleness (or even sleep) is read as a slight against those already at work. In a single sentence, Lynd turns a petty annoyance into a critique of self-righteousness and the urge to universalize one’s personal schedule.