"It is true that the success of the individual in his every‑day business, profession, trade or other occupation depends very materially upon the possession of a good memory. His value in any walk in life depends to a great extent upon the degree of memory he may have developed."
"Once upon a time, this idea of having a trained, disciplined, cultivated memory was not nearly so alien as it would seem to us to be today." - Joshua Foer
"If you want to live a memorable life, you have to be the kind of person who remembers to remember." - Joshua Foer
"Our lives are the sum of our memories. How much are we willing to lose from our already short lives by … not paying attention?" - Joshua Foer
“Memory training is not just for the sake of performing party tricks; it's about nurturing something profoundly and essentially human.” - Joshua Foer
“A man’s real possession is his memory; in nothing else is he rich; in nothing else is he poor.” - Alexander Smith
“Memory is the only paradise from which we cannot be driven away. Grant but memory to us, and we can lose nothing by death.” - Richter
“Memory tempers prosperity, mitigates adversity, controls youth, and delights old age.” - Lactantius
“All knowledge is but remembrance.” Bacon
“Memory is a primary and fundamental faculty, without which none other can work: the cement, the bitumen, the matrix in which the other faculties are embedded. Without it all life and thought were an unrelated succession." Emerson
“Memory is the cabinet of imagination, the treasury of reason, the registry of conscience, and the council chamber of thought.”Basile
Kant pronounced memory to be “the most wonderful of the faculties.”
“There is no faculty of the mind which can bring its energy into effect unless the memory be stored with ideas for it to look upon.” - Burke
“When memory is preternaturally defective, experience and knowledge will be deficient in proportion, and imprudent conduct and absurd opinion are the necessary consequence.” - Beattie
“That the memory is capable of indefinite improvement, there can be no manner of doubt; but with regard to the means by which this improvement is to beeffected mankind are still greatly in ignorance.” - Kay
“The defects of most methods which have been devised and employed for improving the memory, lies in the fact that while they serve to impress particular subjects on the mind, they do not render
the memory, as a whole, ready or attentive.” - Granville
“Surely an art of memory may be made more destructive to natural memory than spectacles are to eyes.”
Fuller
“The extent of the memory depends, first, on the daily use we make of it; secondly, upon the attention with which we consider the objects we would impress upon it; and, thirdly, upon the order in which we rannge our ideas.” - Helvetius (Three essentials in the cultivation of the memory: (1) Use and exercise; review and practice; (2) Attention and Interest; and (3) Intelligent Association.
“The student ought not to be disappointed to find that memory is no exception to the rule of improvement by proper methodical and long continued exercise. There is no royal road, no short cut, to the improvement of either mind or muscle. But the student who follows the rules which psychology has laid down may know that he is walking in the shortest path, and not wandering aimlessly about. Using these rules, he will advance much faster than those without chart, compass, or pilot. He will find mnemonics of extremely limited use. Improvement comes by orderly steps. Methods that dazzle at first sight never give solid results.” - Halleck
“Haziness of perception lies at the root of many a bad memory. If perception is definite, the first
step has been taken toward insuring a good memory. If the first impression is vivid, its effect upon the brain cells is more lasting. All persons ought to practice their visualizing power. This will react upon perception and make it more definite. Visualizing will also form a brain habit of remembering things pictorially, and hence more exactly. - ”Halleck