“How often do we tell our own life story? How often do we adjust, embellish, make sly cuts? And the longer life goes on, the fewer are those around to challenge our account...”— Julian Barnes
“Why is it that our memory is good enough to retain the least triviality that happens to us, and yet not good enough to recall how often we have told it to the same person?”— Morey Amsterdam
“You can remember any new piece of information if it is associated with something you already know or remember.”— Harry Lorayne
“Language is the repository of our collective memories, our dreams, our aspirations, and our identity.”— David Crystal
“Gently I am leaving, Just as gently I came; I gently wave my hand, To the clouds in the western sky.”— Xu Zhimo
“Not the power to remember, but its very opposite, the power to forget, is a necessary condition for our existence.”— Sholem Asch
“To have some account of my thoughts, manners, acquaintance and actions, when the hour arrives in which time is more nimble than memory, is the reason which induces me to keep a journal.”— Fanny Burney
“Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains.”— Diane Ackerman
“The problem was that you didn't always know what you were seeing until later, maybe years later.”— Michael Herr