William James Quotes

Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.

My brain is like a hard drive. Once you start adding new information, you start cutting off old information.

I seem to find different material every four to six months and I frequently forget it which is a shame because it would be nice to have a bigger library.

My memory's pretty much gone.

When I need names they drop out of my head; when I don't need them they drop back.

Short term memory is not good.

You never realize what a good memory you have until you try to forget something.

We have all forgot more than we remember.

For someone who can’t remember very much, there seems to be a lot I can’t forget.

Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.

To remember everything is a form of madness.

...forgetting is vastly underrated as a mental operation.

If you can't remember the small things, how are you going to remember the big things? The mind is a real dangerous neighborhood to travel by ourselves.

The past has an undeniable grip on everyone, except, perhaps, amnesiacs.

Memory is the greatest of artists, and effaces from your mind what is unnecessary.

Tip-of-the-tongue syndrome is when people almost remember something but need a computer, or someone else, to help them find it. The problem is, our brains have always been terrible at remembering details. They were like that way before the Internet came along.

Some men's memory is like a box where a man should mingle his jewels with his old shoes.

I can barely remember what I wrote yesterday, let alone 10 years ago.

Memory is a net: one that finds it full of fish when he takes it from the brook, but a dozen miles of water have run through it without sticking.

My memory's bad!

I've a grand memory for forgetting.

My wife is troubled by the things I forget. I am troubled by the things she recollects.

When you begin to think about the past, you realize how much of it is lost to us.

I have a great memory.