Disappear Quote by Erich Maria Remarque
“One often feels as though something had happened before, I remember. It comes quite close to you and stands there and you know it was just this way once before, exactly so; for an instant you almost know how it must go on, but then it disappears as you try to lay hold of it like smoke or a dead memory. "We could never remember, Isabelle," I say. "It's like the rain. That has also become one, out of two gasses, oxygen and hydrogen, which no longer remember they were once gasses. Now they are only rain and have no memory of an earlier time.”
About This Quote
Source Novel: All Quiet on the Western Front, 1928
Memory can feel like déjà vu, fleeting and elusive, slipping away when grasped.
In simple terms: Memories appear familiar then vanish.
Key Takeaway
Accept the transience of recollection.
Themes
memory
nostalgia
impermanence
Mood
melancholic
contemplative
Type
literary
philosophical
When to use this quote
- reflecting on past events
- writing memoirs
- therapy sessions
Key Concepts
psychology
subjective experience
temporal perception
Questions to Reflect On
- How do you distinguish true memory from imagined?
- What triggers these fleeting recollections?
A Different Perspective
Memory is unreliable and can be distorted by emotion.
