“Memory is a fascinating trickster. Words and images have enormous power and can easily displace actual experience over the years.”

"Literary bias on the slippery slope", p. 249
Bully for Brontosaurus (1991)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Memory is a fascinating trickster. Words and images have enormous power and can easily displace actual experience over …" by Stephen Jay Gould?
Stephen Jay Gould photo
Stephen Jay Gould 274
American evolutionary biologist 1941–2002

Related quotes

Stephen Colbert photo

“If you don't give power to the words that people throw at you to hurt you, they don't hurt you anymore — and you actually have power over those people.”

Stephen Colbert (1964) American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor

Stephen Colbert - It Gets Better (13 July 2011) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BThRZbCs-p8
Context: If you don't give power to the words that people throw at you to hurt you, they don't hurt you anymore — and you actually have power over those people. … So, if you can, realize that the things that people say about you — they don't really matter — it's who you are. And the older you get, the more you'll understand that — because it gets better. And people get nicer too.

Simon Blackburn photo

“We can grieve over lost powers and memories, or rejoice over gained knowledge and maturity, according to taste.”

Simon Blackburn (1944) British academic philosopher

Source: Think (1999), Chapter Four, The Self, p. 146

David Mitchell photo

“...the dizzying vividness of the images of places and people that the letters have unlocked. Images so vivid she can only call them memories.”

"Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery", p. 120
Cloud Atlas (2004), Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery (Part 1)

Werner Herzog photo

“It is a powerful god indeed but it is what the students of ancient gods called a shape-shifter, and sometimes a trickster.”

Robertson Davies (1913–1995) Canadian journalist, playwright, professor, critic, and novelist

Can a Doctor Be a Humanist? (1984).
Context: "To which god must I sacrifice in order to heal?" To which of the warring serpents should I turn with the problem that now faces me?
It is easy, and tempting, to choose the god of Science. Now I would not for a moment have you suppose that I am one of those idiots who scorns Science, merely because it is always twisting and turning, and sometimes shedding its skin, like the serpent that is its symbol. It is a powerful god indeed but it is what the students of ancient gods called a shape-shifter, and sometimes a trickster.

Karel Appel photo

“The experience of the moment is what's important, and somehow the image, the 'thing' is left over.”

Karel Appel (1921–2006) Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet

Karel Appel – the complete sculptures,' (1990) not-paged

David Levithan photo
Rob Enderle photo

“[Apple] carries a valuation of an image that is over-inflated due largely to the powerful efforts of Steve Jobs who made the company appear magical. As we end the year, the valuation of the company appears to have massive downward pressure and this is largely because the architect of that massively powerful image has passed — and along with that passing Apple's apparent leadership.”

Rob Enderle (1954) American financial analyst

2013 to See HP or RIM Most Improved, Apple Falling and Facebook Toast http://itbusinessedge.com/blogs/unfiltered-opinion/2013-to-see-hp-or-rim-most-improved-apple-falling-and-facebook-toast.html in IT Business Edge (19 December 2012)

Related topics