Perhaps one day this too will be pleasant to remember.
—Virgil (70–19 BCE) Roman Poet
I should allow only my heart to have imagination; and for the rest rely on memory, that long drawn sunset of one’s personal truth.
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) Russian-born American Novelist
No one is likely to remember what is entirely uninteresting to him.
—George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish Novelist, Lecturer, Poet
I am a miser of my memories of you
And will not spend them.
—Witter Bynner (1881–1968) American Poet, Writer, Scholar
The charm, one might say the genius, of memory is that it is choosy, chancy and temperamental; it rejects the edifying cathedral and indelibly photographs the small boy outside, chewing a hunk of melon in the dust.
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) Irish Novelist, Short-story Writer
Even if we are occupied with important things and even if we attain honor or fall into misfortune, still let us remember how good it once was here, when we were all together, united by a good and a kind feeling which made us perhaps better than we are.
—Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–81) Russian Novelist, Essayist, Writer
A shared vision is not an idea. It is not even an important idea such as freedom. It is, rather, a force in people’s hearts, a force of impressive power… Shared vision is vital for the learning organization because it provides the focus and energy for learning.
—Peter Senge (b.1947) American Management Consultant, Author, Scientist
A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman’s birthday but never remembers her age.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
In memory everything seems to happen to music.
—Tennessee Williams (1911–83) American Playwright
A strange thing is memory, and hope; one looks backward, and the other forward; one is of today, the other of tomorrow. Memory is history recorded in our brain, memory is a painter, it paints pictures of the past and of the day.
—Grandma Moses (1860–1961) American Painter, Artist
Memory is a magnet. It will pull to it and hold only material nature has designed it to attract.
—Jessamyn West
If you wish to forget something on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be remembered.
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49) American Poet
The one who thinks over his experiences most, and weaves them into systematic relations with each other, will be the one with the best memory.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
If I could remember your name, I’d ask you where I left my keys.
—Anonymous
Our memories are independent of our wills. It is not easy to forget.
—Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816) Irish-born British Playwright, Poet, Elected Rep
Memory is the greatest of artists, and effaces from your mind what is unnecessary.
—Maurice Baring (1874–1946) English Author, Journalist
Back on its golden hinges
The gate of Memory swings,
And my heart goes into the garden
And walks with the olden things.
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919) American Poet, Journalist
We are so constituted that we believe the most incredible things, and once they are engraved upon the memory, woe to him that endeavor to erase them.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.
—Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) Russian Dissident Novelist
Recollection is the only paradise from which we cannot be turned out.
—Jean Paul (1763–1825) German Novelist, Humorist
There is no mother like your own mother.
—African Proverb
When you are right no one remembers; when you are wrong no one forgets.
—Irish Proverb
The effectiveness of our memory banks is determined not by the total number of facts we take in, but the number we wish to reject.
—Jon Wynne-Tyson (1924–2020) British Publisher, Activist
Memory itself is an internal rumour.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
Memory seldom fails when its office is to show us the tombs of our buried hopes.
—Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington (1789–1849) Irish Novelist, Writer
Memories, imagination, old sentiments, and associations are more readily reached through the sense of smell than through any other channel.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
What beastly incidents our memories insist on cherishing, the ugly, and the disgusting; the beautiful things we have to keep diaries to remember.
—Eugene O’Neill (1888–1953) American Playwright
There are lots of people who mistake their imagination for their memory.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
Lord, keep my memory green.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden.
My words echo
Thus, in your mind.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
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