I asked her to look at me and after a few moments - (pause) - after a few moments she did, but the eyes just slits, because of the glare I bent over her to get them in the shadow and they opened. (Pause. Low) Let me in.
Samuel BeckettRead
Estragon: I'm like that. Either I forget right away or I never forget.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the duality of human memory, emphasizing the extremes of forgetting and remembering.
In this quote from Samuel Beckett's play 'Waiting for Godot', Estragon expresses a profound observation about the nature of memory. It highlights the struggle between swift forgetfulness and the burden of unforgettable memories, suggesting that our experiences shape our identity in complex ways. This duality illustrates the varying capacities of our minds to retain or dismiss memories, which can influence our perspectives and emotional states.
Themes
MemoryForgettingRememberingIdentityExperience
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of mental health, one might quote Beckett to illustrate the challenges of memory.
More from Samuel Beckett
All quotes βNothing happens. Nobody comes, nobody goes. It's awful.
Samuel BeckettRead
I shall state silences more competently than ever a better man spangled the butterflies of vertigo.
Samuel BeckettRead
And what I have, what I am, is enough, was always enough for me, and as far as my dear little sweet little future is concerned I have no qualms, I have a good time coming.
Samuel BeckettRead
I love order. It's my dream. A world where all would be silent and still, and each thing in its last place, under the last dust.
Samuel BeckettRead
We lose our hair, our teeth! Our bloom, our ideals.
Samuel BeckettRead
Similar quotes
Iron till it be thoroughly heated is incapable to be wrought; so God sees good to cast some men into the furnace of affliction, and then beats them on His anvil into what frame He desires.
Anne BradstreetRead
The only way someone can be of help to you is in challenging your ideas.
Anthony De MelloRead
Listen carefully, my child, to your master's precepts, and incline the ear of your heart. Receive willingly and carry out effectively your loving father's advice, that by the labor of obedience you may return to Him from whom you had departed by the sloth of disobedience.
Benedict Of NursiaRead
Develop discipline of self so that you do not have to decide and re-decide what you will do when you are confronted with the same temptation time and time again. You need only decide some things once.
Spencer W. KimballRead
The power to question is the basis of all human progress.
Indira GandhiRead
The question the doubter does not ask is whether faith was really useless or simply not used. What would you think of a boy who gave up learning to ride a bicycle, complaining that he hurt himself because his bicycle stopped moving so he had no choice but to fall off? If he wanted to sit comfortably while remaining stationary, he should not have chosen a bicycle but a chair. Similarly faith must be put to use, or it will become useless.
Os GuinnessRead