87 Quotes About Forgetfulness

He wrote Véra sheepishly: “Something has happened (only don’t be angry). I can’t remember (for God’s sake, don’t be angry!) I can’t remember (promise that you won’t be angry), I can’t remember your telephone number.” He knew it had a seven in it, but the rest had entirely escaped him.

Nabokov complained he was afflicted with total recall, an affliction of which he could be miraculously cured by the presence of a biographer.

It's an extraordinary thing about names. You've probably noticed it yourself. You think you've got them, I mean to say, and they simply slither away. I've often wished I had a quid for every time some bird with a perfectly familiar map has come up to me and Hallo-Woostered, and had me gasping for air because I couldn't put a label to him. This always makes one feel at a loss.

Are you still forgetting things?" "I don't know, I can't remember," I said.

I can remember much forgetfulness.

No wonder you rise in the middle of the nightto look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

Forgetfulness is the beginning of happiness as fear is the beginning of wisdom.

I forget. I don't see. I don't think.

Forgiveness: best for cleansing. Forgetfulness best for repetition.