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9d24bc1 Perhaps this is how it is--life flowing smoothly over memory and history, the past returning or not, depending on the tide. History is a collection of found objects washed up through time. Goods, ideas, personalities, surface towards us, then sink away. Some we hook out, others we ignore, and as the pattern changes, so does the meaning. We cannot rely on the facts. Time, which returns everything, changes everything. history life meaning memory objectivity subjectivity time Jeanette Winterson
bae2802 He would come to feel that history, even more than memory, distorts the present of the past by focusing on big events and making one forget that most people living in the present are otherwise preoccupied, that for them omens often don't exist. memory Tracy Kidder
bb514de A poet without memory, said Marconi, is like a criminal and nearly undone by feelings of decency. A poet without memory is an oxymoron. Because the poet is the memory of the language. memory Ricardo Piglia
6a2a081 But of course, in one sense, Dean never died - his existence is superior to such accidents. One must have heroes, which is to say, one must create them. And they become real through our envy, our devotion. It is we who give them their majesty, their power, which ourselves could never possess. And in turn, they give some back. But they are mortal, these heroes, just as we are. They do not last forever. They fade. They vanish. They are surpassed, forgotten - one hears of them no more. hero memory remeberance role-model time James Salter
1d12a8d I am forty. [...] I know who I am. The treachery of possibilities that threaten to swamp a young guy -- I negotiated them. I'm on the other side. The safe side. Why then do I remember the perilous moments with such fond affection? identity memory nostalgia youth Gregory Maguire
ee1a9c3 There's a reason we live in time. We are too small a flask [...] to tolerate too much knowing. Instead, truth must drip through us as through a pipette, to allow only moments of apprehension. Moments diffuse and miniature enough to be survived. memory moments time truth understanding Gregory Maguire
d0a4d51 Everyone remembers things which never happened. And it is common knowledge that people often forget things which did. Either we are all fantasists and liars or the past has nothing definite in it. lies memory reality truth Jeanette Winterson
8371c9d Jehanne said that it would always be like this. That I would always be young and beautiful in her memory, and she in mine. That I would never grow resentful, never be tempted to betray her. That she would never grow restless and fickle, and see to replace me. So you see, not exactly the sentiments of a great and terrible love affair. love-affair memory Jacqueline Carey
068ac97 The print was an old one made from a negative taken in the 1960's of her parents in Sydney Mines, dancing with thrilled, excited expressions on their faces, in front of a classic car that had been a wedding gift at the time. Her mother's hair, red back then, was held back by a blue handkerchief, and she was dressed in a billowing skirt and white blouse. Her father's denim jeans and faded t-shirt were streaked with coal dust as he held her hands and spun her around in the front yard of their old clapboard house, yellow grass under their feet and a cobalt-blue sky with white clouds drifting above. Mandy could almost feel the late summer breeze as she gazed deeply into the print, watching the flamboyant colors come to life. She hung it up to dry on two wooden clothespins hanging from a string above her. arents canada coal coal-mine dancing darkroom kodachrome memory nostalgia photography poverty print retro Rebecca McNutt
35a2e9e "Mandy, I hardly think this was appropriate, not after... you know... after the funeral we haven't had the money for any of your weird little games and I was hoping you'd be more mature now that Jud's gone," her father had disappointedly added. "How much'd that cake cost you?" "It's paid for," Mandy had argued, but her voice had sounded tiny in the harbour wind. "I used the cash from my summer job at Frenchy's last year and I... it was my birthday, dad!" "You can't even be normal about this one thing, can you?" her father had complained. Mandy hadn't cried, she'd only stared back knowingly, her voice shaky. "...I'm normal." argument birthday brother cake death-of-a-sibling depression father funeral grief loss memory money mourning normal nostalgia parent sibling Rebecca McNutt
86b4123 She has only a ghostplay on some frayed screen of memory, which she takes to be the present. memory memory-loss the-only-story Julian Barnes
27bdd9a This last isn't something I actually saw, but what you end up remembering isn't always the same as what you have witnessed. memory the-sense-of-an-ending Julian Barnes
a690594 "Oh, trust me Sydney Tar Ponds, you aren't the first Personification to be forgotten by somebody ordinary," Mearth sighed with a falsely-reassuring smile. Alecto stepped back from her, glaring hatefully. "Sydney Tar Ponds," Mearth added, "I've had so many ordinary people as friends in my life that by now I've forgotten all their names. At first it was difficult... very sad... to see them always leaving, dying, disappearing, ignoring, but after a while I realized that they weren't worth the trouble. I'd rather be in the company of other Personifications. At least they aren't always dropping dead like houseflies or sailing away to parts unknown. Nil sa saol seo ach ceo, i ni bheimid beo, ach seal beag gearr. Wouldn't you agree?" "No," Alecto told her. "I think you're insane." death dying forget friend friendship housefly human insane irish loss memory mother-earth ordinary personification pollution sad Rebecca McNutt
9fcbed2 If some mystical clarity of thought came when you looked death in the eye, then I knew Morrie wanted to share it. And I wanted to remember it for as long as I could. death dying ill memory remember share thought time Mitch Albom
0fd4132 Laurie thought the task of forgetting his love for Jo would absorb all his powers for years; but, to his surprise, he discovered it grew easier every day. He refused to believe it at first,--got angry with himself, and couldn't understand it; but these hearts of ours are curious and contrary things, and time and nature work their will in spite of us. Laurie's heart wouldn't ache; the wound persisted in healing with a rapidity that astonished him, and, instead of trying to forget, he found himself trying to remember. memory Louisa May Alcott
7d21314 Pomieszczenie wygladalo tak, jak je zapamietalem. Albo wygladalo, jak gdyby bylo takie, jakim je zapamietalem, gdyz z reguly wspomnienia dopasowuja sie niezauwazalnie do rzeczy i miejsc z odwiedzanej przeszlosci. memory John Banville
63ecf54 Tu eres tu propio enemigo, Ryan. Empieza por perdonarte, si no te perdonas vas a vivir siempre prisionero del pasado, castigado por la memoria, que es subjetiva. enemy forgiveness memoria memory pasado past perdón Isabel Allende
2af2952 Please God, whatever I was I am no longer....All is forgotten, if not forgiven--it could have come to that. But I don't trust the thought. I don't know if it's because it would be too easy or too terrible to imagine no one cares anymore. insignificance memory remorse self-knowledge time Tim Winton
c0c099b The wave of memory had submerged me for a whole minute, while I'd just sat staring and let it all come flooding back. elizabeth-wein julie memory mind submerged the-pearl-thief Elizabeth Wein
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