Memory Function Quotes

Part of the function of memory is to forget; the omni-retentive mind will break down and produce at best an idiot savant who can recite a telephone book, and at worst a person to whom every grudge and slight is as yesterday's.

I'm not good at remembering things, in general.

Human memory works its own wheel, and stops where it will, entirely without reference to the last stop, and with no connection with the next.

I met with amnesiacs and savants, educators and scientists, to try to understand what memory is, why it works, why it sometimes doesn't, and what its potential might be.

I will have spent my life trying to understand the function of remembering, which is not the opposite of forgetting, but rather its lining. We do not remember. We rewrite memory much as history is rewritten. How can one remember thirst?

What business does memory have with time?

Memory is the receptacle and sheath of all knowledge

Because computers have memories, we imagine that they must be something like our human memories, but that is simply not true. Computer memories work in a manner alien to human memories. My memory lets me recognize the faces of my friends, whereas my own computer never even recognizes me. My computer's memory stores a million phone numbers with perfect accuracy, but I have to stop and think to recall my own.

From now on when people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I planned to say, Amnesiac.

The function of memory is not only to preserve, but also to throw away. If you remembered everything from your entire life, you would be sick.

A great many complimentary things have been said about the faculty of memory, and if you look in a good quotation book you will find them neatly arranged.

I don't think forgetting is an important feature of human memory. I think it's important to be able to remember things accurately.

Neurobiological research has shown that in people with chronic PTSD, both stress hormone secretion and areas of the brain connected to memory function, such as the hippocampus, appear to be affected, although exactly how and why remains controversial.

You have not forgotten to remember; You have remembered to forget. But people can forget to forget. That is just as important as remembering to remember - and generally more practical.

I wanted to remember in order to be able to return.

The faculty for remembering is not diminished in proportion to what one has learnt, just as little as the number of moulds in which you cast sand lessens its capacity for being cast in new moulds.

I have a really bad memory, to be honest.

Memory is each man's own last measure, and for some, the only achievement.

Our memory is childish and it saves only what we need.