On memory

True poetry is a function of awakening.  It awakens us, but it must retain the memory of previous dreams.

Gaston Bachelard . 1884-1962 . French philosopher of science and literary critic . Water and dreams      

History does not always repeat itself.  Sometimes it just yells, ‘Can’t you remember anything I told you?’ and lets fly with a club.

John W Campbell . 1910-1971 . American editor and writer . Analog science fiction/fact

Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden.

TS Eliot . 1888-1965 . American poet, dramatist and publisher . Burnt Norton

In times like these, it’s helpful to remember that there have always been times like these.

Paul Harvey . 1918-2009 . American radio broadcaster . Respectful treatment 

The lot of critics is to be remembered by what they failed to understand.

George Moore . 1852-1933 . Irish novelist, poet, art critic, and dramatist . Impressions and opinions

Who writes your name in letters of smoke among the stars of the south?
Oh let me remember you as you were before you existed.

Pablo Neruda . 1904-1973 . Chilean poet . Every day you play

Things are revealed through the memories we have of them. Remembering a thing means seeing it—only then—for the first time.

Cesare Pavese . 1908-1950 . Italian poet, novelist, literary critic . Il mestiere di vivere: Diario 1935–1950

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

George Santayana . 1863-1952 . Spanish-American philosopher, essayist, poet and novelist . The life of reason

When I am laid in earth
May my wrongs create
No trouble in thy breast;
Remember me, but ah! forget my fate.

Nahum Tate . 1652-1715 . Irish poet and lyricist . libretto, Dido and Aeneas (Purcell) [‘Dido’s lament’]

I used to be able to summon up scenes at will, but now aging memory is so busy weeding its own garden that, promiscuously, it pulls up roses as well as crabgrass.

Gore Vidal . 1925-2012 . American essayist, novelist, playwright and intellectual . Palimpsest 

selection copyright © 2016 Jeremy Marchant . uploaded 5 april 2016 . image Free images