Mémoires d'Oubliettes The facts of life are never just the facts of life. They are all opened to interpretations, modification, adjustments or fantasies. And sometimes it feels like they never even happened… We seem to exist in the world of “lost and found” and in a strange way I feel that it is just as good to be found as being lost or being remembered or forgotten. We can never be sure… But what about the ones, who were never lost or found, never remembered or forgotten? The question of memory and forgetting is the question of being and not being. All our lives are ruled by what we remember and what we forget. But it is more complicated than that. There are not only things we want to remember and things we want to forget, but often we want to influence the facts, which we want to forget or remember. What do we want to remember? What do we want to forget? How do we want to be remembered? Or do we want to be forgotten? What is memory? How much time does it take to forget? I remember, that when I was young, I wished to be remembered for something, that I have created and that would be worthwhile, something that would last, something which would make even the slightest con- tribution to our quality of life.... In ancient Greece lived a man who was ready to commit just about anything, only to ensure that he and his name will be remembered forever.... He understood that only a deed of extreme magnitude would ensure his eternal fame. He didn’t shy away from anything, even sacrilege. He decided to burn down the Temple of Artemis, which at that time was considered one of the “Seven wonders of the World”. He was captured, tried and sentenced. The verdict read that he will be tortured, executed and that his name must never be pronounced - he was condemned to be forgotten forever. Paradoxically the gravity of this sentence have guaranteed his immortality - he will be remembered forever. His name was Hérostratos.
Some other thoughts:
1) | Herostratic Fame comes from Hérostratos which is defined as “fame at any cost.” |
2) | Not even the Future is what it used to be! (Jiří Kylián) |
3) | You are what you pretend to be, so be careful what you pretend to be. (Kurt Vonnegut) |
4) | We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some take us forward, they're called dreams. (Jeremy Irons) |
5) | A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory” |
6) | I forgot to remember what you wanted me to forget? (Jason Akira Somma) |
7) | We must learn history so we are not doomed to repeat it, but history shows that history repeats itself. |
8) | A memory is what is left when something happens and does not completely unhappen. (Edward de Bono) |
9) | And even if you were in some prison, the walls of which let none of the sounds of the world come to your senses - would you not then still have your childhood, that precious, kingly possession, that treasure-house of memories? (Rainer Maria Rilke) |
10) | One need not be a chamber to be haunted; One need not be a house; The brain has corridors surpassing Material place. (Emily Dickinson) |
11) | Everybody needs his memories. They keep the wolf of insignificance from the door. (Saul Bellow) |
12) | It is singular how soon we lose the impression of what ceases to be constantly before us. A year impairs, a luster obliterates. There is little distinct left without an effort of memory, then indeed the lights are rekindled for a moment - but who can be sure that the Imagination is not the torch-bearer? (Lord Byron) |
13) | The existence of forgetting has never been proved: We only know that some things don't come to mind when we want them. (Friedrich Nietzsche) |
14) | The difference between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels: it is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant. (Salvador Dali) |
15) | That which is bitter to endure may be sweet to remember. (Thomas Fuller) |
16) | Our memories are independent of our wills. It is not so easy to forget. (Richard Brinsley Sheridan) |
17) | Nostalgia isn't what it used to be. (Simone Signoret) |
18) | When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not. (Mark Twain) |
19) | The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living. (Marcus Tullius Cicero) |
20) | Memory moderates prosperity, decreases adversity, controls youth and delights old age. (Lactantius Firmianus) |
21) | Memory is deceptive because it is colored by today's events. (Albert Einstein) |
22) | Yesterday is but today's memory, and tomorrow is today's dream. (Kahil Gibran) |
23) | I was asked to memorise what I did not understand; and, my memory being so good, it refused to be insulted in that manner. (Aleister Crowley) |
24) | An autobiography usually reveals nothing bad about its writer except his memory. (Franklin P. Jones) |
26) | All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was. (Toni Morrison) |