Memory Quotes Teach Us the Power of Remembering
Have you ever wondered why it is so important to train your memory? As your ability to remember starts to fade, you may be left wondering if it is important to work to exercise this ability. The fact is that yes, it is important, and not only that, but it is vital. Reading a few memory quotes from famous people in history will help you see why.
Perhaps one of the most famous memory quotes of all time came from Jane Austen in her book Mansfield Park. The quote says, “If any one faculty of our nature may be called more wonderful than the rest, I do think it is memory. There seems nothing more speakingly incomprehensible in the powers, the failures, the inequalities of memory, than in any other of our intelligences. The memory is sometimes so retentive, so serviceable, so obedient; at others, so bewildered and so weak; and at others again, so tyrannic, so beyond control! We are, to be sure, a miracle every way; but our powers of recollecting and of forgetting do seem peculiarly past finding out.”
This quote sums up the mysteries of the memory. Sometimes strong, sometimes weak, and never predictable, we all rely on it, yet few of us truly understand it.
A much simpler quote from Aeschylus points to the importance of memory. He once said, “Memory is the mother of all wisdom.” Aristotle echoed this sentiment by saying “Memory is the scribe of the soul.” Without our memories, we cannot be wise, nor can we have a rich soul, according to these philosophers.
Some Memory Quotes Applaud Poor Memory
Of course, while a good memory is often applauded, so is a poor memory, as some quotes seem to indicate. According to Rita Mae Brown, “One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory.” If you can forget the difficult things of your life, you are going to be much happier. Similarly, Robert Benchley once said, “Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory.”
Sholem Asch took the sentiment a bit further, saying “Not the power to remember, but its very opposite, the power to forget, is a necessary condition for our existence.”
So it seems the most learned among us felt more than one way about memories. Some felt that the ability to remember was one of our greatest gifts, while others felt that sometimes, it is the ability to forget that becomes a blessing. Both are probably true, leaving us to wonder where the proper balance between a good memory and the ability to put the past behind us lies.
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