--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Memories are what you no longer want to…" description: "\"Memories are what you no longer want to remember.\" — Joan Didion" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/541/joan-didion-497_longer_memories-are-what-you-no-longer-want-to_508849.jpg" --- # Memories are what you no longer want to remember. ![“Memories are what you no longer want to remember.” quote by Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/541/joan-didion-497_longer_memories-are-what-you-no-longer-want-to_508849.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/541/joan-didion-497_longer_memories-are-what-you-no-longer-want-to_508849.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/541/joan-didion-497_longer_memories-are-what-you-no-longer-want-to_508849.jpg) > “Memories are what you no longer want to remember.” [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Memories that are painful are often avoided, highlighting the human tendency to suppress unwanted recollections. **In simple terms:** We avoid painful memories. Key Takeaway Confront and process difficult memories. Themes psychology memory trauma Mood introspective somber Type reflective advice When to use this quote - therapy - creative writing - personal growth - historical reflection Key Concepts repression self-awareness Questions to Reflect On - What memories do you avoid? - How can you safely revisit them? A Different Perspective Suppression can hinder healing. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Longer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longer/) [Memories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memories/) [Memories Longer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memories-longer-842630/) [Memory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memory/) [Remember](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remember/) [Want](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/want/) [Want Remember](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/want-remember/) [You](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/you/) ## Related quotes > [“REMEMBER Do you live your life according to how you want to remember it or how you will be remembered?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kitty-downer/remember-do-you-live-your-life-according-to-how-you-want-to-remember/) [Kitty Downer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kitty-downer/) > [Music, at its essence, is what gives us memories. 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You can establish an exact inventory of your meager fortune, the precise balance sheet of your first…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-perec/this-is-your-life-this-is-yours-you-can-establish-an-exact-inventory/) [Georges Perec](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-perec/) > [I no longer want reminders of what was, what got broken, what got lost, what got wasted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-no-longer-want-reminders-of-what-was-what-got-broken-what-got-lost/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“You know that the things you put it your head stay there, right?' 'Yeah. But you remember some things, don't you?' 'Yeah. 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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/) > [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/) ## More by Joan Didion > [To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/to-shift-the-structure-of-a-sentence-alters-the-meaning-of-that/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I work every day. Sometimes I don't accomplish anything every day, but if I don't work every day, I get depressed and get afraid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-work-every-day-sometimes-i-don-t-accomplish-anything-every-day-but/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [Style is character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/style-is-character/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [California is a place in which a boom mentality and a sense of Chekhovian loss meet in uneasy suspension.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/california-is-a-place-in-which-a-boom-mentality-and-a-sense-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“I went because I was interested in the alchemy of issues.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-went-because-i-was-interested-in-the-alchemy-of-issues/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Why did I write it down? 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I recognize it in myself - there is a basic indifference toward people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-m-not-very-interested-in-people-i-recognize-it-in-myself-there-is-a/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Was there ever in anyone's life span a point free in time, devoid of memory, a point when choice was any more than sum…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/was-there-ever-in-anyone-s-life-span-a-point-free-in-time-devoid-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Research to date has shown that, like many other stressors, grief frequently leads to changes in the endocrine, immune, autonomic nervous, and cardiovascular systems;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/research-to-date-has-shown-that-like-many-other-stressors-grief/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“By the end of the week she was thinking constantly about where her body stopped and the air began about the exact point in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/by-the-end-of-the-week-she-was-thinking-constantly-about-where-her/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“I just can't see the upside in this," I heard myself say by way of explanation. Later he said that if John had been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-just-can-t-see-the-upside-in-this-i-heard-myself-say-by-way-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [ I read so ravenously that I would read through whole categories. I was crazy about reading biographies. \[...\] I think biographies are very urgent… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-read-so-ravenously-that-i-would-read-through-whole-categories-i-was/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [To those of us who remained committed mainly to the exploration of moral distinctions and ambiguities, the feminist analysis may have seemed a particularly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/to-those-of-us-who-remained-committed-mainly-to-the-exploration-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Explore all 515 Joan Didion quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) ## More Longer quotes > [Five days or five months, but it certainly isn't going to last longer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-rumsfeld/five-days-or-five-months-but-it-certainly-isn-t-going-to-last-longer/) [Donald Rumsfeld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-rumsfeld/) > [With all the technology we're inventing and what they're coming up with scientifically, people are having longer lifetimes. It's scary, but in the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brittany-murphy/with-all-the-technology-we-re-inventing-and-what-they-re-coming-up/) [Brittany Murphy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brittany-murphy/) > [I like surrounding myself with people who think in sort of the timeframes I do, which is often longer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-hinkie/i-like-surrounding-myself-with-people-who-think-in-sort-of-the/) [Sam Hinkie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-hinkie/) > [Well of course there's been a great deal of progress over the last 40 years. 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