He thought each memory recalled must do some violence to its origins. As in a party game. Say the words and pass it on. So be sparing. What you alter in the remembering has yet a reality, known or not.

Cormac McCarthy
About This Quote

In the novel "The Thorn Birds" written by Colleen McCullough, a character named Dr. Gillespie tells a story about a man who is a victim of amnesia. The man has forgotten his past and is forced to live the rest of his life as if he was born yesterday. This character is Dr.

Gillespie and he tells this story to illustrate his theory of how memories are created. That it’s more of a game than anything else because we don’t know what we were like before we were born and we don’t know what we’ll be like after we die. This story makes you realize that you should not always remember the bad times, but also the good times and how you overcame them and what you learned from them.

Source: The Road

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