29 Orson Scott Card Quotes on Memory

Orson Scott Card quotes on memory

14. Ender stepped under the water and rinsed himself, took the sweat of combat and let it run down the drain. All gone, except they recycled it and we'll be drinking Bonzo's blood water in the morning. All the life gone out of it, but his blood just the same, his blood and my sweat, washed down in their stupidity or cruelty or whatever it was that made them let it happen.

35. You'll keep looking around for something, something you were looking for, but you can't find it, and you can't remember what it was.

42. You remember this little boy; they never tell you anymore truth than they have to.

44. He is dead...because we have forgotten him.

65. You were reckless, brilliant and young.

122. When someone dies, a loved one, and your last contact with them was angry or spiteful, then you begin to blame yourself. If only I hadn't said this, if only I hadn't said that.

199. Only you have the power to kill me completely. Only you have the power to make it so my death means nothing, so that all my people die after me and there is no one left to remember. Why shouldn't I leave my testament with you alone? Only you will decide whether or not it has any worth.

235. How do we remember? Is the brain a jar that holds our memories? Then when we die, does the jar break? Are our memories spilled on the ground and lost? Or is the brain a map that leads down twisted paths and into hidden corners? Then when we die, the map is lost but perhaps some explorer could wander through that strange landscape and find out the hiding places of our misplaced memories.

256. He dreamed, as human beings always dreamed - random firings of memory and imagination that the unconscious mind tries to put together into coherent stories.

336. I was forgetting how it really was, I was remembering it through common, ordinary eyes, I was remembering it as the boy I was before, but now I remember that it wasn't me being weak or me being naked, or anything else that I should be ashamed of.

382. Never mind. Put it back where it belongs, in memory, not in the forefront of thought

407. Like when you wake up in the middle of the night with a very important idea from a dream, and you writed it down and then in the morning it says 'Not the food! The dog!' and you have no idea what that could possibly mean or why you once thought it was important.

410. That's what survival means, for me. I thought it was a matter of staying alive, but it isn't. Nobody lives forever anyway. It's how you're remembered. It's what your children thought of you, what they think of you after you're dead. That's survival. And if there's one thing that can truly be said about me, it's this: I survive.

439. To remember is real. To imagine is nothing That's silly... Most of the things people say they remember they only imagine anyways

502. That kiss and all it held - hope, forgiveness, love - let me never forget that

511. Their thoughts were remarkably alike, as they worked silently toghether. This is what I want to do forever, each one thought. Rise in the morning, come to the mill, and work all day with him beside me. Never mind that the wish was impossible. Never mind that they might never see each other again, once the boy left for his apprenticeship back in the place of his birth. That only added to the sweetness of the moment, which would soon become a memory, would soon become a dream.

527. Who is she? Who? The one you love till it takes your breath away just remembering

565. Some memories don't fade, some physical memories are forever. The feel of your fathers hand, the sound of your mothers voice. Only, father's hand was smaller now. No, Ivan's was larger, but to him, it was his father who had shrunk, who no longer had the power of the giant, of the god, to enfold him and keep him safe.

595. He thought he was miserable, but he would look back on this as the happiest of times

670. Death isn't the worst thing in the world Yes it is, you lose everything You keep your memories, in the end that's all we have

673. He'll remember me. And I'll feel it. I'll know that I was known, that I am known. That someone holds me in his heart

790. I hoped for your company. For many conversations' she thought about it, but in the end she shook her head. 'It would be too:hard for me. This is too hard for me. Seeing you brings back another life. A time when I was another person maybe now and then. Every few years

809. To me, the truth is what actually happened. Yet it is impossible to know anything approaching the whole truth about past events. Even the people living them could not possibly understand. That truth is always out of reach

821. Now I will never let go of you in my heart, Josif thought. I will love you forever, he thought. I am lying, he thought, and this time he was right

903. A year ago? It was yesterday. It was forever.

914. What [he] saw in his dream of her was the old [her], his best friend... Whose body was as lean as a boy's, [she] who was really his brother and sister, his teacher and his confidante. [she] who always understood everything and guided him past the really dumb mistakes of life and made him feel like everything was safe, if you were just smart enough and careful enough.

915. Deep inside himself, in a place he didn't often go, where he kept the things he didn't like to think about but dared not forget, he knew that [she] was still alive somewhere, and somehow she was watching what he did, or at least looking in on him from time to time

1015. My strongest memories are yours

1022. And that combination of foolish happiness, shame, and love - meant something. Until then, the memories had meant nothing. But these visions of today had taken on a powerful resonance; his whole life trembled with it