Memoirs Quotes

“Someday," Magnus said, looking at the crumpled royal person at his feet, "I must write my memoirs.”
― Cassandra Clare, The Runaway Queen

“Honesty is vulnerability. Sadly, not everyone can handle someone’s honesty. However, lying allows people to be comfortable.”
― Shannon L. Alder

“Here it is. You assume that I am rich; I am not. I shall have nothing once I have emptied my purse. You perhaps suppose that I am a man of high birth, and I am of a rank either lower than your own or equal to it. I have no talent which can earn money, no employment, no reason to be sure that I shall have anything to eat a few months hence. I have neither relatives nor friends nor rightful claims nor any settled plan. In short, all that I have is youth, health, courage, a modicum of intelligence, a sense of honor and of decency, with a little reading and the bare beginnings of a career in literature. My great treasure is that I am my own master, that I am not dependent upon anyone, and that I am not afraid of misfortunes. My nature tends toward extravagance. Such is the man I am. Now answer me, my beautiful Teresa.”
― Casanova Giacomo

“I knew even then that she was right. An en is a karmic bond lasting a lifetime. Nowadays many people seem to believe their lives are entirely a matter of choice; but in my day we viewed ourselves as pieces of clay that forever show the fingerprints of everyone who has touched them. Nobu's touch had made a deeper impression on me than most. No one could tell me whether he would be my ultimate destiny, but I had always sensed the en between us. Somewhere in the landscape of my life Nobu would always be present. But could it really be that of all the lessons I'd learned, the hardest one lay just ahead of me? Would I really have to take each of my hopes and put them away where no one would ever see them again, where not even I would ever see them?”
― Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha

“I could simply
kill you now,
get it over with,
who would
know the difference?
I could easily
kick you in, stove you
under, for all those times,
mean on gin,
you rammed words
into my belly. (p. 52)”
― Barbara Blatner

“Granny Trill and Granny Wallon were traditional ancients of a kind we won’t see today, the last of that dignity of grandmothers to whom age was its own embellishment. The grandmothers of those days dressed for the part in that curious but endearing uniform which is now known to us only through music-hall. And our two old neighbours, when setting forth on errands, always prepared themselves scrupulously so. They wore high laced boots and long muslin dresses, beaded chokers and candlewick shawls, crowned by tall poke bonnets tied with trailing ribbons and smothered with inky sequins. They looked like starlings, flecked with jet, and they walked in a tinkle of darkness.

Those severe and similar old bodies enthralled me when they dressed that way. When I finally became King (I used to think) I would command a parade of grandmas, and drill them, and march them up and down - rank upon rank of hobbling boots, nodding bonnets, flying shawls, and furious chewing faces. They would be gathered from all the towns and villages and brought to my palace in wagon-loads. No more than a monarch’s whim, of course, like eating cocoa or drinking jellies; but far more spectacular any day than those usual trudging guardsmen.”
― Laurie Lee, Cider with Rosie

“oh.
she heard it
too-no waters
coursing, canyon
empty, sun
soundless-
and the beast
your life
nowhere
hiding (p. 103)”
― Barbara Blatner, The Still Position: A Verse Memoir of My Mother's Death

“Decision has greater virtue and force if taken after there has been eloquent dissent.”
― John Kenneth Galbraith, Name-Dropping

“...what draws us into a story and keeps us there is the firing of our dopamine neurons, signaling that intriguing information is on the way.”
― Lisa Cron, Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence

“Comme tout le monde, je n'ai à mon service que trois moyens d'évaluer l'existence humaine: l'étude de soi, la plus difficile et la plus dangereuse, mais aussi la plus féconde des méthodes; l'observation des hommes, qui s'arrangent le plus souvent pour nous cacher leurs secrets ou pour nous faire croire qu'ils en ont; les livres, avec les erreurs particulières de perspective qui naissent entre leurs lignes.”
― Marguerite Yourcenar, Memoirs of Hadrian

“...gripping the
rim of the sink
you claw your
way to stand
and cling there,
quaking with
will, on
heron legs,
and still the hot
muck pours
out of you. (p. 27)”
― Barbara Blatner, The Still Position: A Verse Memoir of My Mother's Death

“Ipinangako ko sa sarili ko: tulad ng butil ng palay, hindi ako mapupunta sa batuhan o hihipan lang ng hangin. Mapupunla ako sa mayamang bukirin.”
― Rene O. Villanueva, Personal: Mga Sanaysay sa Lupalop ng Gunita

“blue-gold sky, fresh cloud,
emerald-black mountain, trees
on rocky ledges,

on the summit, the tiny pin
of a telephone tower-all

brilliantly clear,
in shadow and out.

and on and through
everything
everywhere
the sun shines
without reservation (p. 97)”
― Barbara Blatner, The Still Position: A Verse Memoir of My Mother's Death

“I quickly became aware that the phrase "it can only get better" could very quickly turn into "it could always be worse," because it was.”
― Savannah Grace, I Grew My Boobs in China

“Early retirement, Dalton. Teach yourself to type with your toes and you
can start writing your memoirs.”
― Mark Allen Smith, The Inquisitor

“Brighton Beach does not look, smell, or sound like Russia. It's a parody of Russia at best, something as different from the real thing as a picture of the Eiffel Tower. Yes, they sell Russian food on Brighton Beach, and Russian books and videos, and Russian clothes, and there are Russian restaurants and Russian nightclubs, and everybody speaks Russian, but the Russianness of the place is so concentrated that it feels ridiculously exaggerated. Everything Russian on Brighton Beach is too Russian, far more Russian than in real Russia. This is what happens all over Brooklyn. From the Scandinavians of Bay Ridge to the Chinese of Sunset Park, Brooklyn's immigrants go to ridiculous extremes to re-create their homelands only to end up with a vulgar pastiche.”
― Lara Vapnyar

“Not for nothing, but if you do that again, I'm gonna have to punch ya fuckin' heart out!”
― Cyndi Lauper

“And if somehow Marc was serious, I knew that by the time our engagement was announced, I’d be an expert at celebrating. After all, practice makes perfect, and who else had this much practice?”
― Hilary Grossman, Dangled Carat

“I spent the next couple of hours either walking around with a gelato in my hand or on my knees in church asking to be forgiven for the sin of gluttony.”
― Mark Leslie, Beyond The Pasta: Recipes, Language and Life with an Italian Family

“So, Mr. Nick,' murmured the valet, applying shaving soap to his employer's face with an ivory-handled brush, 'are you writing a book?'

Damn him, thought Lerner. He knows I detest conversation with a razor at my throat.

'My memoirs,' he muttered. 'A few jottings only. Waiting to die is such a bore, I write to pass the time.' ("The Overseer")”
― Albert E. Cowdrey, Best New Horror 20

“U Parizu su postojale dve vrste snobizma, naročito među izvesnim piscima. Jedan se sastojao u tome da ljudi izigravaju katolike, što su činili čak i pojedini pisci govoreći o takozvanoj krizi katolicizma, koja je kao za inat postajala dublja što je više opadao ugled dotičnog pisca. Drugi snobizam, kome su bili potpuno naklonjeni nadrealisti, sastojao se u tome da ljudi izigravaju ateiste i antiklerikalce. U to vreme je u Parizu živeo jedan čudnovat sveštenik, verovatno malo pomerenog uma, koji je svaki čas it Sen-Silpisa odlazio na Velike bulevare i tamo cepao časopise kao La Vie Parisienne ili La Rire, izložene na kioscima, jer je smatrao da su opasni za moral dobrih hrišćana. Razumljivo, vlasnik kioska se bunio i tražio da sveštenik plati pocepane časopise, ali umesto novaca je dobijao samo zapenjene govorancije o dekadenciji i nemoralu našeg doba. Naposletku bi se pojavio policajac i u najbližu policijsku stanicu odvodio sveštenika moralistu i vlasnika kioska. Svaki put kada bi do ušiju Andrea Bretona stigao glas o nekom od takvih skandalapomenutog sveštenika, on bi odmah izdavao naređenje mladom Desnosu – koji je inače bio spreman na sve radi pobede nadrealizma – da ode u četvrt San-Silpis i pocepa sve crkvene časopise i novine na kioscima.”
― Giorgio de Chirico, The Memoirs of Giorgio de Chirico

“U međuvremenu, opet po savetu nekih ličnosti koje su dobro poznavale umetničku sredinu i “ambijent”, potražio sam Gijoma Apolinera. On je stanovao u omanjem stanu na poslednjem spratu stare građanske kuće na bulevaru Sen Žermen. Subotom, od pet do osam sati, primao je prijatelje. Dolazili su slikari, pesnici, ljudi od pera, oni takozvani “mladi” i “inteligentni” koji su zastupali takozvane “nove ideje”. U Apolinerovoj kući vladala je atmosfera u stilu Balestrijerijevog Betovena. Apoliner je činodejstvovao sedeći za svojim radnim stolom; ćutljive i namerno zamišljene individue sedele su u naslonjačama i na divanima. U skladu sa ondašnjom modom i ambijentom većina njih pušili su gipsane lule nalik onim lulama koje vidimo na vašarištima pod šatrama gde se gađa u metu. Po zidovima su visile slike Marije Loransen, Pikasa i još nekih opskurnih kubista čija sam imena zaboravio. Kasnije su tamo bile okačene dve ili trii moje metafizičke slike, među njima i portret Gijoma Apolinera na kome sam pesnika predstavio iz profila kako puca u metu što je, izgleda, predskazivalo ranjavanje Apolinera u glavu tokom Prvog svetskog rata.

Odlazio sam maltene redovno na te subotnje sedeljke kod Apolinera valda zato što sam još bio premlad; dakle još sam imao izvesnu dozu naivnosti i štošta još nisam do kraja shvatao. Ali od tada nisam gajio osobito poštovanje niti simpatiju prema tom ambijentu i tamo sam se prilično dosađivao. Na te čuvene sedeljke subotom je dolazio i rumunski vajar Konstantin Brankuši, koji je nosio dugu bradu i svaki put govorio – ukoliko bi ga kogod slušao – da “oseća veliko unutrašnje zadovoljstvo”. Njegove skulpture su se sastojale od jajastih formi koje je brusio i glačao berlinskom brusilicom, tako das u svojim površinama podsećale na skulpture Adolfa Vilta. Dolazio je i Andre Deren koji se uvaljivao u naslonjaču, pušio lulu i nije progovarao nijednu reč. Dolazio je Maks Žakob koji, za razliku od Derena, nije zatvarao usta; govorio je izveštačeno, čas ironično, čas sumnjičavo. Govorom, oblačenjem i fizičkim izgledom podsečao je na šansonjere sa Monmartra koji recituju stihove i pevaju šansone, a potom obigravaju oko stokova i podsmevaju se gostima.”
― Giorgio de Chirico, The Memoirs of Giorgio de Chirico

“This country makes a man younger than his birthdays.”
― Sam Keith, One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey

“And there was a deeper, less visible effect of the Truman loyalty program. Seeing its consequences for certain individuals and fearing its intrusion on their own lives, many in the government sought protection by strongly asserting their anti-Communism. In the public action that ensued, policy was based not on reality but, instinctively or deliberately, on personal caution...Those who urged a militant and sometimes military anti-Communism were considered sound, trustworthy and personally safe; those who questioned such a course were politically unsafe, possible even slightly disloyal.”
― John Kenneth Galbraith, Name-Dropping

“Just as there can be a hole in these narratives, a memoir can be as much about what's forgotten as what's remembered.”
― Jane Alison, The Sisters Antipodes

“If I am to write my memoirs someday I would like to have good material to work with.”
― James Cambias, A Darkling Sea

“Behind every humorist who delights in knifing hypocrites is a major self-critic.”
― Wendy Aron