--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I was thinking of writing a little…" description: "\"I was thinking of writing a little foreword saying that history is, after all, based on people's recollections, which change with time.\" — Frederik Pohl" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/016/frederik-pohl-12573_history_i-was-thinking-of-writing-a-little-forew_903794.jpg" --- # I was thinking of writing a little foreword saying that… ![“I was thinking of writing a little foreword saying that history is, after all, based on people's recollections, which change with time.” quote by Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/016/frederik-pohl-12573_history_i-was-thinking-of-writing-a-little-forew_903794.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/016/frederik-pohl-12573_history_i-was-thinking-of-writing-a-little-forew_903794.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/016/frederik-pohl-12573_history_i-was-thinking-of-writing-a-little-forew_903794.jpg) > “I was thinking of writing a little foreword saying that history is, after all, based on people's recollections, which change with time.” [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. History is a narrative built from personal memories that evolve as societies change, making the past fluid and subjective. **In simple terms:** History changes as people remember differently. Key Takeaway Recognize that accounts of the past are shaped by memory. Themes memory subjectivity history perception change Mood reflective thoughtful Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - writing histories - teaching history - personal memoirs - archival research Key Concepts collective memory narrative construction temporal bias Questions to Reflect On - How do personal biases affect historical narratives? - In what ways can we verify changing recollections? A Different Perspective Memory can be unreliable, leading to conflicting versions of events. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Recollection](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/recollection/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [Investors should be skeptical of history-based models. Constructed by a nerdy-sounding priesthood using esoteric terms such as beta, gamma, sigma and the like, these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warren-buffett/investors-should-be-skeptical-of-history-based-models-constructed-by/) [Warren Buffett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warren-buffett/) > [Like most passionate nations, Texas has its own history based on, but not limited by, facts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/like-most-passionate-nations-texas-has-its-own-history-based-on-but/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [We've got to teach history based not on what's in fashion, but what's important.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-reagan/we-ve-got-to-teach-history-based-not-on-what-s-in-fashion-but-what-s/) [Ronald Reagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-reagan/) > [It is to live twice when we can enjoy the recollections of our former life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martial/it-is-to-live-twice-when-we-can-enjoy-the-recollections-of-our-former/) [Martial](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martial/) > [Recollections of the past and visions of the present come to bear me company; the meanest man to whom I have ever given alms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/recollections-of-the-past-and-visions-of-the-present-come-to-bear-me/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [I've been writing an ongoing letter to my children since they were born, full of recollections of their childhoods. I've filled two journals. It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tory-burch/i-ve-been-writing-an-ongoing-letter-to-my-children-since-they-were/) [Tory Burch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tory-burch/) > [Memories are like a still life painted by ten different student artists: some will be blue-based; others red; some will be as stark as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/memories-are-like-a-still-life-painted-by-ten-different-student/) [Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/) > [I suppose we all have our recollections of our earlier holidays, all bristling with horror.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flann-o-brien/i-suppose-we-all-have-our-recollections-of-our-earlier-holidays-all/) [Flann O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flann-o-brien/) > [It is difficult to realize how great a part of all that is cheerful and delightful in the recollections of our own life is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilson-flagg/it-is-difficult-to-realize-how-great-a-part-of-all-that-is-cheerful/) Wilson Flagg > [Here I am, a bundle of past recollections and future dreams, knotted up in a reasonably attractive bundle of flesh. I remember what this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/here-i-am-a-bundle-of-past-recollections-and-future-dreams-knotted-up/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [On a late-winter evening in 1983, while driving through fog along the Maine coast, recollections of old campfires began to drift into the March…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/on-a-late-winter-evening-in-1983-while-driving-through-fog-along-the/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [“Can we account for instinct?' said Monte Cristo. 'Are there not some places where we seem to breathe sadness? — why, we cannot tell.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-dumas/can-we-account-for-instinct-said-monte-cristo-are-there-not-some/) [Alexander Dumas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-dumas/) > [“Improved memory made possible the long-term recollection of dreams and visions and the construction of those recollections into a spirit world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-david-lewis-williams/improved-memory-made-possible-the-long-term-recollection-of-dreams/) [James David Lewis-Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-david-lewis-williams/) > [Isn't it fortunate how selective our recollections usually are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-forbes/isn-t-it-fortunate-how-selective-our-recollections-usually-are/) [Malcolm Forbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-forbes/) > [Are there not some places where we seem to breathe sadness? — why, we cannot tell. It is a chain of recollections — an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexandre-dumas/are-there-not-some-places-where-we-seem-to-breathe-sadness-why-we/) [Alexandre Dumas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexandre-dumas/) ## More by Frederik Pohl > [“There are people who never pass a certain point in their emotional development. They cannot live a normal free-and-easy, give-and-take life with a sexual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/there-are-people-who-never-pass-a-certain-point-in-their-emotional/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [“Only you have to keep practicing and remembering.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/only-you-have-to-keep-practicing-and-remembering/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [“Anyway, that's what life is, just one learning experience after another, and when you're through with all the learning experiences you graduate and what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/anyway-that-s-what-life-is-just-one-learning-experience-after-another/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [A lot of the cosmologists and astrophysicists clearly had been reading science fiction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/a-lot-of-the-cosmologists-and-astrophysicists-clearly-had-been/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [Advertising reaches out to touch the fantasy part of people's lives. And you know, most people's fantasies are pretty sad.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/advertising-reaches-out-to-touch-the-fantasy-part-of-people-s-lives/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [A large fraction of the most interesting scientists have read a lot of SF at one time or another, either early enough that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/a-large-fraction-of-the-most-interesting-scientists-have-read-a-lot/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [“If a picture on the wall can remember, you remember that this is not the first time. 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I'm so busy planning on how to pick up the check, and wondering what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/when-i-sit-down-to-the-feast-of-life-i-m-so-busy-planning-on-how-to/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [For someone to be taken seriously it was valuable to have the appearance of someone who deserved to be taken seriously.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/for-someone-to-be-taken-seriously-it-was-valuable-to-have-the/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [“You asked me, 'Do you call this living?" And I answer: Yes, it is exactly what I call living. And in my best hypothetical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/you-asked-me-do-you-call-this-living-and-i-answer-yes-it-is-exactly/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [The science fiction method is dissection and reconstruction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/the-science-fiction-method-is-dissection-and-reconstruction/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [On this day I want to tell you about, which will be about a thousand years from now, there were a boy, a girl…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/on-this-day-i-want-to-tell-you-about-which-will-be-about-a-thousand/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [“There are times when I sit at the center of the world, and when I know that I can reach out to any of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/there-are-times-when-i-sit-at-the-center-of-the-world-and-when-i-know/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) [Explore all 51 Frederik Pohl quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) ## More History quotes > [Histories never conclude; they just pause their prose. Their stories are, if they are truthful, untidy affairs, resistant to windings-up and sortings-out. They beat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/histories-never-conclude-they-just-pause-their-prose-their-stories/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [It is said that history turns on small hinges. A human career, too, results from an accumulating series of decisions about large and small…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-vincent-peale/it-is-said-that-history-turns-on-small-hinges-a-human-career-too/) [Norman Vincent Peale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-vincent-peale/) > [The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-history-of-mankind-interests-us-only-as-it-exhibits-a-steady-gain/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [In the entire history of the universe, let alone in your own history, there has never been another day just like today, and there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-buechner/in-the-entire-history-of-the-universe-let-alone-in-your-own-history/) [Frederick Buechner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-buechner/) > [The NBA is my history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/penny-hardaway/the-nba-is-my-history/) [Penny Hardaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/penny-hardaway/) > [History has often showed us the strength of the forces that are unleashed by the yearning for freedom. It moved people to overcome their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-merkel/history-has-often-showed-us-the-strength-of-the-forces-that-are/) [Angela Merkel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-merkel/) > [We find few historians who have been diligent enough in their search for truth; it is their common method to take on trust what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dryden/we-find-few-historians-who-have-been-diligent-enough-in-their-search/) [John Dryden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dryden/) > [What is history after all? History is facts which become lies in the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/what-is-history-after-all-history-is-facts-which-become-lies-in-the/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Things live and die, and then someone processes them into edible portions. This is a complete telling of the story, 'Food.' The basic plot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-fahrenthold/things-live-and-die-and-then-someone-processes-them-into-edible/) [David Fahrenthold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-fahrenthold/) > [History is a certain way, but you just change the point of view a little bit, and you discover a whole new side of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allison-schroeder/history-is-a-certain-way-but-you-just-change-the-point-of-view-a/) [Allison Schroeder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allison-schroeder/) > [We're at a point in history were we have to become a part of the neighborhood of inhabited planets, like a neighborhood of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-mitchell/we-re-at-a-point-in-history-were-we-have-to-become-a-part-of-the/) [Edgar Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-mitchell/) > [Today is a reality, tomorrow's a promise, and yesterday's history!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-blanks/today-is-a-reality-tomorrow-s-a-promise-and-yesterday-s-history/) [Billy Blanks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-blanks/) > [Truth be told from compulsive liars with a history/Everything must change 2nd chances are a mystery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-dash/truth-be-told-from-compulsive-liars-with-a-history-everything-must/) C-DASH > [Every army in the history of the world has always had some deserters, usually much greater than we have today, because once again every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryan-hilferty/every-army-in-the-history-of-the-world-has-always-had-some-deserters/) [Bryan Hilferty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryan-hilferty/) > [“To those great geniuses now in petticoats, who shall write novels for the beloved reader's children, these men and things will be as much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-makepeace-thackeray/to-those-great-geniuses-now-in-petticoats-who-shall-write-novels-for/) [William Makepeace Thackeray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-makepeace-thackeray/) [Browse all 27,263 History quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I was thinking of writing a little foreword saying that history is, after all, based on people's recollections, which change with time.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Frederik Pohl" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/i-was-thinking-of-writing-a-little-foreword-saying-that-history-is/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "History" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/i-was-thinking-of-writing-a-little-foreword-saying-that-history-is/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/016/frederik-pohl-12573_history_i-was-thinking-of-writing-a-little-forew_903794.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/016/frederik-pohl-12573_history_i-was-thinking-of-writing-a-little-forew_903794.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/016/frederik-pohl-12573_history_i-was-thinking-of-writing-a-little-forew_903794.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I was thinking of writing a little foreword saying that history is, after all, based on people's…” — Frederik Pohl", "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": "Frederik Pohl", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I was thinking of writing a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/i-was-thinking-of-writing-a-little-foreword-saying-that-history-is/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/i-was-thinking-of-writing-a-little-foreword-saying-that-history-is/#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 } } ] } ```