The experienced writer says to the anguished novice: 'Just do it; get something, anything, on to the screen or page, just establish a flow of words, and criticise them later.' You give this advice but can't always take it.
Hilary MantelRead
Memory isn't a theme; it's part of the human condition.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Memory is an integral aspect of what it means to be human, rather than just a conceptual idea.
In this quote, Hilary Mantel emphasizes the profound role that memory plays in shaping our identity and experience as human beings. Rather than viewing memory as an abstract theme to be discussed, she presents it as a fundamental aspect of our existence, influencing our thoughts, emotions, and connections with others throughout our lives.
Themes
MemoryHuman ConditionIdentityExperienceExistence
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a discussion about the importance of memory in shaping personal identity.
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Why are we so attached to the severities of the past? Why are we so proud of having endured our fathers and our mothers, the fireless days and the meatless days, the cold winters and the sharp tongues? It's not as if we had a choice.
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He is careful to deny responsibility for September, but he does not, you notice, condemn the killings. He also refrains from killing words, sparing Roland and Buzot, as if they were beneath his notice. August 10 was illegal, he says; so too was the taking of the Bastille. What account can we take of that, in revolution? It is the nature of revolutions to break laws. We are not justices of the peace; we are legislators to a new world.
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It is the absence of facts that frightens people: the gap you open, into which they pour their fears, fantasies, desires.
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History offers us vicarious experience. It allows the youngest student to possess the ground equally with his elders; without a knowledge of history to give him a context for present events, he is at the mercy of every social misdiagnosis handed to him.
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