QuoteProject
We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget.
Joan Didion
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Memories can fade over time, even those we believe are unforgettable.

Joan Didion's quote reflects the inherent transience of memory and the paradox of forgetting. It suggests that while certain moments or experiences may feel permanent and unforgettable in the present, time has a way of clouding those memories, rendering them distant or insignificant as we move forward in life.

Themes

MemoryForgettingTimeLifeExperience

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about the impact of life experiences, one might reference this quote to emphasize how we often overlook our past memories.

More from Joan Didion

To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters the meaning of the object photographed.
Joan DidionRead
The truth is, it's easier for me to write than talk... to express the state I'm in at any time.
Joan DidionRead
Memories are what you no longer want to remember.
Joan DidionRead
It was clear, for example, in 1988 that the political process had already become perilously remote from the electorate it was meant to represent.
Joan DidionRead
I mean maybe I was holding all the aces, but what was the game?
Joan DidionRead
Do not whine... Do not complain. Work harder. Spend more time alone.
Joan DidionRead

Similar quotes

There sighs, lamentations and loud wailings resounded through the starless air, so that at first it made me weep; strange tongues, horrible language, words of pain, tones of anger, voices loud and hoarse, and with these the sound of hands, made a tumult which is whirling through that air forever dark, and sand eddies in a whirlwind.
Dante AlighieriRead
If your ego starts out, "I am important, I am big, I am special," you're in for some disappointments when you look around at what we've discovered about the universe. No, you're not big. No, you're not. You're small in time and in space. And you have this frail vessel called the human body that's limited on Earth.
Neil Degrasse TysonRead
Whenever you hear anyone talking about a cultural or even about a human problem, you should never forget to inquire who the speaker really is. The more general the problem, the more the person will smuggle his or her own personal psychology into the account he or she gives of it.
Carl JungRead
Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draws it. Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves.
Gautama BuddhaRead
It is very important for a priest, in the parish itself, to see how people trust in him and to experience, in addition to their trust, also their generosity in pardoning his weaknesses.
Pope Benedict XviRead
No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth.
PlatoRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.