“One must have a good memory to keep the promises one has made.”

“A good memory is needed after one has lied. ”

“..., and if one has only one good memory left in one's heart, even that may sometimes be the means of saving us.”

“When one has not had a good father, one must create one.”

“Perhaps one has to have placed life in the center of one’s worldview and valued it as much as I have in order to know that one may not keep it, but must yield it up.”

“The possible redemption from the predicament of irreversibility──of being unable to undo what one has done──is the faculty of forgiving. The remedy for unpredictability, for the chaotic uncertainty of the future, is contained in the faculty to make and keep promises. Both faculties depend upon plurality, on the presence and acting of others, for no man can forgive himself and no one can be bound by a promise made only to himself.”