--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Today I have so much to do: I must kill…" description: "\"“Today I have so much to do: I must kill memory once and for all, I must turn my soul to stone, I must learn to live again--”\" — Anna Akhmatova" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c5/anna-akhmatova-3933_memory_today-i-have-so-much-to-do-i-must-kill-m_2693190.jpg" --- # Today I have so much to do: I must kill memory once and… ![“Today I have so much to do: I must kill memory once and for all, I must turn my soul to stone, I must learn to live again--” quote by Anna Akhmatova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c5/anna-akhmatova-3933_memory_today-i-have-so-much-to-do-i-must-kill-m_2693190.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c5/anna-akhmatova-3933_memory_today-i-have-so-much-to-do-i-must-kill-m_2693190.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c5/anna-akhmatova-3933_memory_today-i-have-so-much-to-do-i-must-kill-m_2693190.jpg) > ““Today I have so much to do: I must kill memory once and for all, I must turn my soul to stone, I must learn to live again--”” [Anna Akhmatova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Desire to erase memory, become emotionally hardened, and relearn living. **In simple terms:** Want to kill memory, turn to stone, learn life again. Key Takeaway Seek emotional renewal. Themes memory emotional resilience rebirth Mood melancholic determined Type poetic reflective When to use this quote - therapy - personal crisis - creative writing Key Concepts psychology literature Questions to Reflect On - What memories must be let go? - How to balance hardness and feeling? A Different Perspective May suppress necessary healing. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Memory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memory/) [Spirituality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spirituality/) ## Related quotes > [Today I have so much to do: I must kill memory once and for all, I must turn my soul to stone, I must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/today-i-have-so-much-to-do-i-must-kill-memory-once-and-for-all-i-must/) [Anna Akhmatova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/) > [Memory is a slippery thing. When something terrible happens to you, like the loss of someone you love...memory can turn into a soft blanket…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathi-appelt/memory-is-a-slippery-thing-when-something-terrible-happens-to-you/) [Kathi Appelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathi-appelt/) > [“Most people have no reason to know how memory can turn rogue and feral, becoming a force of its own and one to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tana-french/most-people-have-no-reason-to-know-how-memory-can-turn-rogue-and/) [Tana French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tana-french/) > [If drinking don't kill me, her memory will.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-jones/if-drinking-don-t-kill-me-her-memory-will/) [George Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-jones/) > [If Jesus was alive today, we would kill him with lethal injection. I call that progress. We would have to kill him for the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/if-jesus-was-alive-today-we-would-kill-him-with-lethal-injection-i/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [“Oggi uccidiamo, domani moriremo,” he said, his gloved hand making the sign of the cross. Today we kill, tomorrow we die.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-m-darhower/oggi-uccidiamo-domani-moriremo-he-said-his-gloved-hand-making-the/) [J.M. Darhower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-m-darhower/) > [In this ever chaotic world, it's a great comfort to know that I always have Someone to turn to - my Soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ces-peta/in-this-ever-chaotic-world-it-s-a-great-comfort-to-know-that-i-always/) [Ces Peta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ces-peta/) > [Turn your soul's vision to Jesus, and look and look at Him, and a strange dimness will come over all that is apart from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lilias-trotter/turn-your-soul-s-vision-to-jesus-and-look-and-look-at-him-and-a/) [Lilias Trotter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lilias-trotter/) > [Suffer not thy wrongs to shroud thy fate, But turn, my soul, to blessings which remain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-seward/suffer-not-thy-wrongs-to-shroud-thy-fate-but-turn-my-soul-to/) [Anna Seward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-seward/) > [I can't turn your soul on. Leave me those feelings; and you can take away the voice and the face. They are not you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/i-can-t-turn-your-soul-on-leave-me-those-feelings-and-you-can-take/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [And I saw for the first time how, despite the isolation of our own lives, we are always connected to our ancestors; our bodies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alyson-richman/and-i-saw-for-the-first-time-how-despite-the-isolation-of-our-own/) [Alyson Richman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alyson-richman/) > [Memory is funny. Once you hit a vein the problem is not how to remember but how to control the flow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tobias-wolff/memory-is-funny-once-you-hit-a-vein-the-problem-is-not-how-to/) [Tobias Wolff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tobias-wolff/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [“Maybe there is something when it all ends. Maybe there is memory, memory of the person you loved, when you lived. Maybe this is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-ellison/maybe-there-is-something-when-it-all-ends-maybe-there-is-memory/) [Kate Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-ellison/) > [I was 3-years-old - to this day it is a vivid memory. My family and I were on a boat, catching fish. As one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joaquin-phoenix/i-was-3-years-old-to-this-day-it-is-a-vivid-memory-my-family-and-i/) [Joaquin Phoenix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joaquin-phoenix/) ## More by Anna Akhmatova > [Wild honey smells of freedom The dust - of sunlight The mouth of a young girl, like a violet But gold - smells of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/wild-honey-smells-of-freedom-the-dust-of-sunlight-the-mouth-of-a/) [Anna Akhmatova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/) > [Song falls silent, music is dumb, But the air burns with their fragrance, And white winter, on its knees, Observes everything with reverent attention.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/song-falls-silent-music-is-dumb-but-the-air-burns-with-their/) [Anna Akhmatova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/) > [“That is why we love this city – Dark and stern, and full of water, And we love our separations, And brief moments when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/that-is-why-we-love-this-city-dark-and-stern-and-full-of-water-and-we/) [Anna Akhmatova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/) > [Give me bitter years of sickness, Suffocation, insomnia, fever, Take my child and my lover, And my mysterious gift of song This I pray…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/give-me-bitter-years-of-sickness-suffocation-insomnia-fever-take-my/) [Anna Akhmatova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/) > [Sweet to me was not the voice of man, But the wind's voice was understood by me. The burdocks and the nettles fed my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/sweet-to-me-was-not-the-voice-of-man-but-the-wind-s-voice-was/) [Anna Akhmatova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/) > [We learned not to meet anymore, We don't raise our eyes to one another, But we ourselves won't guarantee What could happen to us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/we-learned-not-to-meet-anymore-we-don-t-raise-our-eyes-to-one-another/) [Anna Akhmatova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/) > [“ In Dream Black and enduring separation I share equally with you. Why weep? Gove me your hand, promise me you will come again.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/in-dream-black-and-enduring-separation-i-share-equally-with-you-why/) [Anna Akhmatova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/) > [“But don’t raise your eyes in defiance, Protect my life, my dear. They’re brighter than first violets, But deadly to me, I fear.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/but-don-t-raise-your-eyes-in-defiance-protect-my-life-my-dear-they-re/) [Anna Akhmatova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/) > [Forgive me, that I manage badly, Manage badly but live gloriously, That I leave traces of myself in my songs, That I appeared to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/forgive-me-that-i-manage-badly-manage-badly-but-live-gloriously-that/) [Anna Akhmatova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/) > [Rising from the past, my shadow Is running in silence to meet me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/rising-from-the-past-my-shadow-is-running-in-silence-to-meet-me/) [Anna Akhmatova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/) > [We aged a hundred years, and this happened in a single hour: the short summer had already died, the body of the ploughed plains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/we-aged-a-hundred-years-and-this-happened-in-a-single-hour-the-short/) [Anna Akhmatova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/) > [It was a time when only the dead smiled, happy in their peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/it-was-a-time-when-only-the-dead-smiled-happy-in-their-peace/) [Anna Akhmatova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/) > [But here, in the murk of conflagration, where scarcely a friend is left to know we, the survivors, do not flinch from anything, not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/but-here-in-the-murk-of-conflagration-where-scarcely-a-friend-is-left/) [Anna Akhmatova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/) > [“Let my heiress have full rights, Live in my house, sing songs that I composed. Yet how slowly my strength ebbs, How the tortured…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/let-my-heiress-have-full-rights-live-in-my-house-sing-songs-that-i/) [Anna Akhmatova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/) > [You do not know just what you've been forgiven.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/you-do-not-know-just-what-you-ve-been-forgiven/) [Anna Akhmatova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/) [Explore all 118 Anna Akhmatova quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/) ## More Memory quotes > [I was 3-years-old - to this day it is a vivid memory. My family and I were on a boat, catching fish. As one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joaquin-phoenix/i-was-3-years-old-to-this-day-it-is-a-vivid-memory-my-family-and-i/) [Joaquin Phoenix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joaquin-phoenix/) > [“Maybe there is something when it all ends. Maybe there is memory, memory of the person you loved, when you lived. Maybe this is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-ellison/maybe-there-is-something-when-it-all-ends-maybe-there-is-memory/) [Kate Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-ellison/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [Memory is funny. Once you hit a vein the problem is not how to remember but how to control the flow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tobias-wolff/memory-is-funny-once-you-hit-a-vein-the-problem-is-not-how-to/) [Tobias Wolff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tobias-wolff/) > [Once upon a time. Ah forget it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/once-upon-a-time-ah-forget-it/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I am told many children block out the memory of trauma. In fact, the healing process can only truly begin when we are willing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phoebe-stone/i-am-told-many-children-block-out-the-memory-of-trauma-in-fact-the/) [Phoebe Stone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phoebe-stone/) > [“The whole town rushed outside to celebrate this crowded minute when the time of suffering had ended and the time of forgetting had not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/the-whole-town-rushed-outside-to-celebrate-this-crowded-minute-when/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [I have a memory like an elephant. I remember every elephant I've ever met.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herb-caen/i-have-a-memory-like-an-elephant-i-remember-every-elephant-i-ve-ever/) [Herb Caen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herb-caen/) > [Your memory is a monster; you forget - it doesn't. It simply files things away. It keeps things for you, or hides things from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-irving/your-memory-is-a-monster-you-forget-it-doesn-t-it-simply-files-things/) [John Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-irving/) > [My first Olympics memory was watching Haile Gebrselassie in Sydney 2000. His sprint finish to defend his title really moved me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mo-farah/my-first-olympics-memory-was-watching-haile-gebrselassie-in-sydney/) [Mo Farah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mo-farah/) > [That old man dies prematurely whose memory records no benefits conferred. They only have lived long who have lived virtuously.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-brinsley-sheridan/that-old-man-dies-prematurely-whose-memory-records-no-benefits/) [Richard Brinsley Sheridan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-brinsley-sheridan/) > [My greatest memories as a kid were playing sports with my dad and watching sports with my dad.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-teixeira/my-greatest-memories-as-a-kid-were-playing-sports-with-my-dad-and/) [Mark Teixeira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-teixeira/) > [What’s the use of remembering anything? If it was unpleasant it was unpleasant and if it was pleasant it’s over.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elaine-dundy/what-s-the-use-of-remembering-anything-if-it-was-unpleasant-it-was/) [Elaine Dundy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elaine-dundy/) > [Always remember a little thing can change everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/always-remember-a-little-thing-can-change-everything/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If God knows me I will never forget him](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trunxbeats/if-god-knows-me-i-will-never-forget-him/) Trunxbeats [Browse all 12,248 Memory quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memory/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Today I have so much to do: I must kill memory once and for all, I must turn my soul to stone, I must learn to live again--”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Anna Akhmatova" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/today-i-have-so-much-to-do-i-must-kill-memory-once-and-for-all-i-must-2/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Memory" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/today-i-have-so-much-to-do-i-must-kill-memory-once-and-for-all-i-must-2/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c5/anna-akhmatova-3933_memory_today-i-have-so-much-to-do-i-must-kill-m_2693190.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c5/anna-akhmatova-3933_memory_today-i-have-so-much-to-do-i-must-kill-m_2693190.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c5/anna-akhmatova-3933_memory_today-i-have-so-much-to-do-i-must-kill-m_2693190.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Today I have so much to do: I must kill memory once and for all, I must turn my soul to stone, I must learn…” — Anna Akhmatova", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Anna Akhmatova", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-akhmatova/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Today I have so much to...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/today-i-have-so-much-to-do-i-must-kill-memory-once-and-for-all-i-must-2/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-akhmatova/today-i-have-so-much-to-do-i-must-kill-memory-once-and-for-all-i-must-2/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```