“Every memory no matter how remote its subject takes place "now " at the moment it's called up in the mind. The more something is recalled the more the brain has a chance to refine the original experience because every memory is a re-creation not a playback.”

“To live (as I understand it) is to exist within a conception of time.But to remember is to vacate the very notion of time.Every memory, no matter how remote its subject, takes place 'Now,' at the moment it's called to the mind.The more something is recalled, the more the brain has a chance to refine the original experience.Because every memory is a re-creation, not a playback.”

“Every day stole away more of her presence, leaving in its place faint wisps of memories devoid of color, scent, and sound.”

“Time is a machine: it will convert your pain into experience. Raw data will be compiled, will be translated into a more comprehensible language. The individual events of your life will be transmuted into another substance called memory and in the mechanism something will be lost and you will never be able to reverse it, you will never again have the original moment back in its uncategorized, unprocessed state. It will force you to move on and you will not have a choice in the matter.”

“For the sense of smell, almost more than any other, has the power to recall memories and it's a pity we use it so little.”

“Unhappy memories are persistent. They're specific, and it's the details that refuse to leave us alone. Though a happy memory may stay with you just as long as one that makes you miserable, what you remember softens over time. What you recall is simply that you were happy, not necessarily the individual moments that brought about your joy.But the memory of something painful does just the opposite. It retains its original shape, all bony fingers and pointy elbows. Every time it returns, you get a quick poke in the eye or jab in the stomach. The memory of being unhappy has the power to hurt us long after the fact. We feel the injury anew each and every time we think of it.”