Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth -- “Holidays” (1876)
The holiest of all holidays are those Kept by ourselves in silence and apart; The secret anniversaries of the heart. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) American poet“Holidays” (1876)
View ArticleSmith, Sydney -- Lady Holland’s Memoir, Vol. 1, ch. 11 (1855)
That sign of old age, extolling the past at the expense of the present. Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, witLady Holland’s Memoir, Vol. 1, ch. 11 (1855)
View ArticleChateaubriand, Francois-Rene -- Memoirs from Beyond the Grave [Mémoires...
Memory is often the attribute of stupidity; it generally belongs to heavy spirits whom it makes even heavier by the baggage it loads them down with. François-René de Chateaubriand (1768-1848) French...
View ArticleNin, Anais -- (Attributed)
We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect. Anaïs Nin (1903-1977) Catalan-Cuban-French author, diarist(Attributed)
View ArticleJames, P.D. -- “Rhesus Positive,” A Taste for Death (1986)
It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life. P.D. James (b. 1920) British mystery writer [Phyllis Dorothy James White]“Rhesus Positive,” A Taste...
View ArticleBecker, Carl -- “Everyman His Own Historian” (1), speech, American Historical...
Let us then admit that there are two histories: the actual series of events that once occurred; and the ideal series that we affirm and hold in memory. The first is absolute and unchanged — it was what...
View ArticleLeonardo da Vinci -- Note-books, 1 [tr. McCurdy (1908)]
Just as eating contrary to the inclination is injurious to the health, so study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Italian artist,...
View ArticleTuchman, Barbara -- “Can History Be Served Up Hot?” New York Times (8 Mar 1964)
The unrecorded past is none other than our old friend, the tree in the primeval forest which fell without being heard. Barbara W. Tuchman (1912-1989) American historian and author“Can History Be Served...
View ArticleYeats, William Butler -- “Vacillation,” The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933)
Things said or done long years ago, Or things I did not do or say But thought that I might say or do, Weigh me down, and not a day But something is recalled, My conscience or my vanity appalled....
View ArticleCampbell, Thomas -- “Hallowed Ground” (1825)
Another fine quotation from WIST - Wish I'd Said That! . And is he dead whose glorious mind Lifts thine on high? To live in the hearts we leave Is not to die!
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De Stael, Germaine -- (Attributed)
Sow good services: sweet remembrances will grow from them. Germaine de Staël (1766-1817) Swiss-French writer, woman of letters, critic, salonist [Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein, Madame de...
View ArticleDunne, Finley Peter -- A Family Union, “Mr. Dooley”
Th’ past always looks better thin it was. It’s only pleasant because it isn’t here. [The past always looks better than it was. It’s only pleasant because it isn’t here.] Finley Peter Dunne (1867-1936)...
View ArticleGreen, John -- The Fault in Our Stars (2012)
Another fine quotation from WIST - Wish I'd Said That! . The pleasure of remembering had been taken from me, because there was no longer anyone to remember with. It felt like losing your co-rememberer...
View ArticleDoctor Who, “The Time of the Doctor” (25 Dec 2013)
THE DOCTOR: We all change. When you think about it, we’re all different people all through our lives, and that’s okay, that’s good, you gotta keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that...
View ArticleTom Sawyer Abroad, ch. 10 (1894)
But, on the other hand, Uncle Abner said that the person that had took a bull by the tail once had learnt sixty or seventy times as much as a person that hadn’t, and said a person that started in to...
View ArticleIntuitions and Summaries of Thought (1862)
The cheerful live longest in life, and after it, in our regards. Christian Nestell Bovee (1820-1904) American epigrammistIntuitions and Summaries of Thought (1862)
View ArticleOld Man’s War (2005)
Another fine quotation from WIST - Wish I'd Said That! . For as much as I hate the cemetery, I’ve been grateful it’s here, too. I miss my wife. It’s easier to miss her at a cemetery, where she’s never...
View ArticleThe Eyes of the Dragon (1987)
She was a grown up now, and she discovered that being a grown up was not quite what she had suspected it would be when she was a child. She had thought then that she would make a conscious decision one...
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Johnson, Samuel -- The Rambler, #50 (8 Sep 1750)
Every old man complains of the growing depravity of the world, of the petulance and insolence of the rising generation. He recounts the decency and regularity of former times, and celebrates the...
View ArticleKierkegaard, Soren -- Journals IV.A.164 (1843)
It is perfectly true, as the philosophers say, that life must be understood backwards. But they forget the other proposition, that it must be lived forwards. Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) Danish...
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