--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: This sense that the world can be…" description: "\"“This sense that the world can be reinvented [evokes] the Sixties in this country, those years when no one at all seemed to have any memory or mooring...." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bbf/joan-didion-497_memory_this-sense-that-the-world-can-be-reinven_574791.jpg" --- # This sense that the world can be reinvented \[evokes\] the… ![“This sense that the world can be reinvented [evokes] the Sixties in this country, those years when no one at all seemed to have any memory or mooring...” quote by Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bbf/joan-didion-497_memory_this-sense-that-the-world-can-be-reinven_574791.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bbf/joan-didion-497_memory_this-sense-that-the-world-can-be-reinven_574791.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bbf/joan-didion-497_memory_this-sense-that-the-world-can-be-reinven_574791.jpg) > ““This sense that the world can be reinvented \[evokes\] the Sixties in this country, those years when no one at all seemed to have any memory or mooring...”” [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. The quote reflects a nostalgic yearning for the radical optimism of the 1960s, suggesting the present lacks that daring vision. **In simple terms:** Yearning for past idealism. Key Takeaway Embrace bold ideas today. Themes nostalgia idealism culture politics Mood reflective hopeful Type cultural inspirational When to use this quote - activism - creative projects - community building Key Concepts social change collective memory Questions to Reflect On - How can we channel 60s optimism responsibly? - What modern values replace that sense of possibility? A Different Perspective Idealism can overlook practical constraints. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Memory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memory/) [Sixties](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sixties/) ## Related quotes > [“And it interests him less to have the world reinvented; he wants it explained.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/and-it-interests-him-less-to-have-the-world-reinvented-he-wants-it/) [Ian McEwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/) > [“Thanks to dreams, in the history of the galaxy the world has been reinvented more often than there are stars.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lloyd-jones/thanks-to-dreams-in-the-history-of-the-galaxy-the-world-has-been/) [Lloyd Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lloyd-jones/) > [Many people I know in Los Angeles believe that the Sixties ended abruptly on August 9, 1969, ended at the exact moment when word…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/many-people-i-know-in-los-angeles-believe-that-the-sixties-ended/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“1966 and 1968 were a world removed from each other in the political and cultural life of the United States . . .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/1966-and-1968-were-a-world-removed-from-each-other-in-the-political/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [There's definitely a pattern of great British shows that get reinvented in America and do really well here, but I think 'Torchwood' is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-pullman/there-s-definitely-a-pattern-of-great-british-shows-that-get/) [Bill Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-pullman/) > [Food doesn't exist, but can only be invented. And reinvented.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/food-doesn-t-exist-but-can-only-be-invented-and-reinvented/) [Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/) > [Elizabeth Taylor has reinvented herself and her image time and time again. The results have often helped redefine modern fashion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bo-derek/elizabeth-taylor-has-reinvented-herself-and-her-image-time-and-time/) [Bo Derek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bo-derek/) > [What part of our history's reinvented and under rug swept? What part of your memory is selective and tends to forget?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alanis-morissette/what-part-of-our-history-s-reinvented-and-under-rug-swept-what-part/) [Alanis Morissette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alanis-morissette/) > [We reinvented a dying auto industry thats back on top of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/we-reinvented-a-dying-auto-industry-thats-back-on-top-of-the-world/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > ['True Lies' reinvented me in the eyes of a new generation and got me offers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/art-malik/true-lies-reinvented-me-in-the-eyes-of-a-new-generation-and-got-me/) [Art Malik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/art-malik/) > [Peter Sellers constantly reinvented himself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/merrie-spaeth/peter-sellers-constantly-reinvented-himself/) [Merrie Spaeth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/merrie-spaeth/) > [You don't expect people to go, "music has just been reinvented!" But the hope is that people won't say, "this is the most boring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carey-mercer/you-don-t-expect-people-to-go-music-has-just-been-reinvented-but-the/) [Carey Mercer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carey-mercer/) > [We've reinvented ourselves many, many, many times.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-l-flannery/we-ve-reinvented-ourselves-many-many-many-times/) [John L. Flannery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-l-flannery/) > [I reinvented eyebrows.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anastasia-soare/i-reinvented-eyebrows/) [Anastasia Soare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anastasia-soare/) > [I am one of the few singers who has reinvented oneself with every song.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neha-bhasin/i-am-one-of-the-few-singers-who-has-reinvented-oneself-with-every-song/) [Neha Bhasin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neha-bhasin/) ## 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? In order to remember, of course, but exactly what was it I wanted to remember? How much of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/why-did-i-write-it-down-in-order-to-remember-of-course-but-exactly/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [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/) > [My mother 'gave teas' the way other mothers breathed. Her own mother 'gave teas.' All of their friends 'gave teas,' each involving butter cookies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/my-mother-gave-teas-the-way-other-mothers-breathed-her-own-mother/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I'm not very interested in people. 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 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": "“This sense that the world can be reinvented [evokes] the Sixties in this country, those years when no one at all seemed to have any memory or mooring...”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joan Didion" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/this-sense-that-the-world-can-be-reinvented-evokes-the-sixties-in/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Memory" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/this-sense-that-the-world-can-be-reinvented-evokes-the-sixties-in/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bbf/joan-didion-497_memory_this-sense-that-the-world-can-be-reinven_574791.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bbf/joan-didion-497_memory_this-sense-that-the-world-can-be-reinven_574791.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bbf/joan-didion-497_memory_this-sense-that-the-world-can-be-reinven_574791.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“This sense that the world can be reinvented [evokes] the Sixties in this country, those years when no one at…” — Joan Didion", "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": "Joan Didion", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“This sense that the world can...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/this-sense-that-the-world-can-be-reinvented-evokes-the-sixties-in/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/this-sense-that-the-world-can-be-reinvented-evokes-the-sixties-in/#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 } } ] } ```