“And since we don’t just forget things because they don’t matter but also forget things because they matter too much because each of us remembers and forgets in a pattern whose labyrinthine windings are an identification mark no less distinctive than a fingerprint's, it’s no wonder that the shards of reality one person will cherish as a biography can seem to someone else who, say, happened to have eaten some ten thousand dinners at the very same kitchen table, to be a willful excursion into mythomania”
Explore This Quote Further
Example of Usage
Philip Roth beautifully captures the complexities of memory and perspective in this quote, highlighting the unique ways in which individuals remember and forget.
Analysis of Quote from Philip Roth
In this quote, Philip Roth delves into the idea of memory and its subjectivity. He explores how individuals remember and forget certain events based on their own personal experiences and emotions. The analogy of memory being like a labyrinth with unique patterns, similar to a fingerprint, emphasizes the complexity and individuality of one's recollections. Additionally, Roth highlights the discrepancy in how different people may perceive the same events, with one person's cherished memories being seen as exaggerated or mythical by another. This quote reflects the intricate nature of memory and the way it shapes our identities and perceptions.
The Complexity of Memory and Perception
In this quote by Philip Roth, he explores the idea of how memory and perception shape our understanding of reality. He highlights how each individual's unique pattern of remembering and forgetting can lead to different interpretations of events and experiences. This concept is particularly relevant in today's society, where the proliferation of social media and online platforms allows for multiple perspectives and narratives to coexist and sometimes clash. The quote underscores the importance of recognizing and respecting the diversity of perspectives and experiences that shape our understanding of the world.
Reflection Questions
In this quote by Philip Roth, we are confronted with the idea that our memories and perceptions are unique to each individual, shaped by personal experiences and emotions. This raises questions about the reliability of memory and the subjectivity of truth. How does this concept challenge your understanding of personal narratives and history? How does it shape the way you view the stories and memories of others? How might this idea influence your approach to listening and understanding the perspectives of others?
Similar quotes
“Maybe the best thing would be to forget being right or wrong about people and just go along for the ride. But if you can do that -- well, lucky you.”
“Though frankly… Tarnapol, as he is called, is beginning to seem as imaginary as my Zuckermans anyway, or at least as detached from the memoir-ist – his revelations coming to seem like still another “useful fiction,” and not because I am telling lies. I am trying to keep to the facts. Maybe all I’m saying is that words, being words, only approximate the real thing, and so no matter how close I come, I only come close.”
“You get them wrong before you meet them, while you're anticipating meeting them; you get them wrong while you're with them; and then you go home to tell somebody else about the meeting and you get them all wrong again. Since the same generally goes for them with you, the whole thing is really a dazzling illusion. ... The fact remains that getting people right is not what living is all about anyway. It's getting them wrong that is living, getting them wrong and wrong and wrong and then, on careful reconsideration, getting them wrong again. That's how we know we're alive: we're wrong. Maybe the best thing would be to forget being right or wrong about people and just go along for the ride. But if you can do that -- well, lucky you.”
“You fight your superficiality, your shallowness, so as to try to come at people without unreal expectations, without an overload of bias or hope or arrogance, as untanklike as you can be, sans cannon and machine guns and steel plating half a foot thick; you come at them unmenacingly on your own ten toes instead of tearing up the turf with your caterpillar treads, take them on with an open mind, as equals, man to man, as we used to say, and yet you never fail to get them wrong. You might as well have the brain of a tank. You get them wrong before you meet them, while you're anticipating meeting them; you get them wrong while you're with them; and then you go home to tell somebody else about the meeting and you get them all wrong again. Since the same generally goes for them with you, the whole thing is really a dazzling illusion. ... The fact remains that getting people right is not what living is all about anyway. It's getting them wrong that is living, getting them wrong and wrong and wrong and then, on careful reconsideration, getting them wrong again. That's how we know we're alive: we're wrong. Maybe the best thing would be to forget being right or wrong about people and just go along for the ride. But if you can do that -- well, lucky you.”
“No matter how much you know, no matter how much you think, no matter how much you plot and you connive and you plan, you're not superior to sex. It's a very risky game. A man wouldn't have two-thirds of the problems he has if he didn't venture off to get fucked. It's sex that disorders our normally ordered lives.”
“He is not simply looking into the mirror because he is transfixed by what he sees. Rather, the artist’s success depends as much as anything on his powers of detachment, on de-narcissizing himself… Freud… studied his own dreams not because he was a “narcissist,” but because he was a student of dreams. And whose were at once the least and most accessible of dreams, if not his own?”