A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow.

The line compresses a familiar moral-psychological observation into a domestic image: inner agitation follows you into the most private space, turning rest itself into a site of disturbance. A “ruffled mind” suggests anxiety, guilt, anger, or unresolved conflict—states that keep thought in motion when the body wants stillness. The “restless pillow” implies sleeplessness and the inability to find comfort, hinting that peace is not primarily a matter of external conditions but of inward composure. In a Brontëan register, it also gestures toward the costs of suppressed feeling and moral struggle: emotional turbulence exacts a physical toll, and conscience or passion can deny the solace of sleep.