--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: As if I hadn't spent a lifetime…" description: "\"“As if I hadn't spent a lifetime pretending to forget.”\" — Kate Morton" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6b/kate-morton-805_memories_as-if-i-hadn-t-spent-a-lifetime-pretendi_86136.png" --- # As if I hadn't spent a lifetime pretending to forget. ![“As if I hadn't spent a lifetime pretending to forget.” quote by Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6b/kate-morton-805_memories_as-if-i-hadn-t-spent-a-lifetime-pretendi_86136.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6b/kate-morton-805_memories_as-if-i-hadn-t-spent-a-lifetime-pretendi_86136.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6b/kate-morton-805_memories_as-if-i-hadn-t-spent-a-lifetime-pretendi_86136.png) > ““As if I hadn't spent a lifetime pretending to forget.”” [Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker confronts a lifelong habit of deliberate forgetting, revealing lingering memory. **In simple terms:** Memory resurfaces despite denial Key Takeaway Past attempts to forget persist Themes memory denial self‑deception psychology Mood nostalgic pensive Type literary introspective When to use this quote - grief counseling - creative memoir - therapy Key Concepts repression remembrance Practical Applications - psychological analysis - writing prompt Questions to Reflect On - Why do we pretend to forget? - What triggers the return of suppressed memories? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Hadn Spent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hadn-spent-1082599/) [Lifetime Pretending](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lifetime-pretending-933507/) [Memories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memories/) [Pretending](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pretending/) [Pretending Forget](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pretending-forget-1082598/) [Spent Lifetime](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spent-lifetime-492542/) ## Related quotes > [We all pretend for a while or for a lifetime. But pretending is not living...I believe that God meant for life to take our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-thomas/we-all-pretend-for-a-while-or-for-a-lifetime-but-pretending-is-not/) [Angela Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-thomas/) > [“We are born knowing how to be just. And we die knowing we spent a lifetime pretending we didn't.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-meissner/we-are-born-knowing-how-to-be-just-and-we-die-knowing-we-spent-a/) [Susan Meissner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-meissner/) > [I consider myself the luckiest man in the world. I have spent a lifetime doing what I love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/len-wein/i-consider-myself-the-luckiest-man-in-the-world-i-have-spent-a/) [Len Wein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/len-wein/) > [“Watching someone else totally go for it can be incredibly upsetting to the person who’s spent a lifetime building a case for why they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jen-sincero/watching-someone-else-totally-go-for-it-can-be-incredibly-upsetting/) [Jen Sincero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jen-sincero/) > [If forever is not enough to love you I will spent another lifetime to love you so](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yepotz/if-forever-is-not-enough-to-love-you-i-will-spent-another-lifetime-to/) [Yepotz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yepotz/) > [It takes a well-spent lifetime, and perhaps more, to crystalize in us that for which we exist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-toomer/it-takes-a-well-spent-lifetime-and-perhaps-more-to-crystalize-in-us/) [Jean Toomer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-toomer/) > [As for inhibitions, I've spent a lifetime developing them, and I don't intend to lose them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/as-for-inhibitions-i-ve-spent-a-lifetime-developing-them-and-i-don-t/) [Pearl S. Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) > [My name is Kim Phuc, though you likely know me by another name. It is one I never asked for, a name I have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phan-thi-kim-phuc/my-name-is-kim-phuc-though-you-likely-know-me-by-another-name-it-is/) [Phan Thi Kim Phuc](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phan-thi-kim-phuc/) > [“Some wounds went so deep you spent a lifetime trying to recover from them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noelle-adams/some-wounds-went-so-deep-you-spent-a-lifetime-trying-to-recover-from/) [Noelle Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noelle-adams/) > [God, how that stings! I've spent a lifetime loving science fiction and now I find that you must expect nothing of something that's just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/god-how-that-stings-i-ve-spent-a-lifetime-loving-science-fiction-and/) [Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/) > [And I know you've spent a lifetime trying to protect me from the staggering pain of grief that comes from losing the things and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alyson-noel/and-i-know-you-ve-spent-a-lifetime-trying-to-protect-me-from-the/) [Alyson Noel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alyson-noel/) > [“Many who have spent a lifetime can tell us less of love than the child that lost a dog yesterday.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thornton-wilder/many-who-have-spent-a-lifetime-can-tell-us-less-of-love-than-the/) [Thornton Wilder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thornton-wilder/) > [Many who have spent a lifetime in it can tell us less of love than the child that lost a dog yesterday.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thornton-wilder/many-who-have-spent-a-lifetime-in-it-can-tell-us-less-of-love-than/) [Thornton Wilder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thornton-wilder/) > [People spend a lifetime looking for more, when they could have spent a lifetime enjoying what life has offered.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/people-spend-a-lifetime-looking-for-more-when-they-could-have-spent-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I've spent a lifetime trying to really become a larger-than-life person onstage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bridget-everett/i-ve-spent-a-lifetime-trying-to-really-become-a-larger-than-life/) [Bridget Everett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bridget-everett/) ## More by Kate Morton > [“Laurel wondered whether perhaps a person reached an age when so much was kept from them, so many details of life discussed and decided…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/laurel-wondered-whether-perhaps-a-person-reached-an-age-when-so-much/) [Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/) > [“It hardly needs to be said: sooner or later secrets have a way of making themselves known.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/it-hardly-needs-to-be-said-sooner-or-later-secrets-have-a-way-of/) [Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/) > [“Give someone more time and they'll appear to have done more with it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/give-someone-more-time-and-they-ll-appear-to-have-done-more-with-it/) [Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/) > [“It suddenly seemed to Laurel that all the absences in her own life, every loss and sadness, every nightmare in the dark, every unexplained…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/it-suddenly-seemed-to-laurel-that-all-the-absences-in-her-own-life/) [Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/) > [Rejection is a cancer, Edie. It eats away at a person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/rejection-is-a-cancer-edie-it-eats-away-at-a-person/) [Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/) > [“home is a magnet that lures back even its most abstracted children.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/home-is-a-magnet-that-lures-back-even-its-most-abstracted-children/) [Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/) > [“tiempo tiene su peculiar manera de moldear a la gente de forma que ellos mismos ya no se reconocen,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/tiempo-tiene-su-peculiar-manera-de-moldear-a-la-gente-de-forma-que/) [Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/) > [“I want to know how it feels to be altered by life”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/i-want-to-know-how-it-feels-to-be-altered-by-life/) [Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/) > [“She'd opened the front cover and fallen inside the wonderful, frightening, magical illustrations. She'd wondered what it must feel like to escape the rigid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/she-d-opened-the-front-cover-and-fallen-inside-the-wonderful/) [Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/) > [It's special, grandparents and grandchldren. So much simpler. Is it always so, I wonder? I think perhaps it is. While one's child takes a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/it-s-special-grandparents-and-grandchldren-so-much-simpler-is-it/) [Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/) > [“... and I thought -not for the first time- what a true and simple pleasure it was, to be inside and sated when the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/and-i-thought-not-for-the-first-time-what-a-true-and-simple-pleasure/) [Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/) > [“Nell was like a witch. Her long silvery hair rolled into a bun on the back of her head, the narrow wooden house on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/nell-was-like-a-witch-her-long-silvery-hair-rolled-into-a-bun-on-the/) [Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/) > [Thinking of nothing. Trying to think of nothing. Thinking of everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/thinking-of-nothing-trying-to-think-of-nothing-thinking-of-everything/) [Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/) > [There's a market for mysteries for adults. That feeling of opening a book and delving inside and not coming out until you've closed the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/there-s-a-market-for-mysteries-for-adults-that-feeling-of-opening-a/) [Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/) > [“I don’t have many friends, not the living, breathing sort at any rate. And I don’t mean that in a sad and lonely way;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/i-don-t-have-many-friends-not-the-living-breathing-sort-at-any-rate/) [Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/) [Explore all 334 Kate Morton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/) ## More Memories 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/) > [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/) > [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 cooler days have brought a wistful mood upon him. The smell of coalsmoke in the air at night. Old times, dead years. For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/the-cooler-days-have-brought-a-wistful-mood-upon-him-the-smell-of/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [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/) > [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/) > [A well-fashioned day - with a beginning and an end, a purpose and a content, a color and a character, a feel and a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-rohn/a-well-fashioned-day-with-a-beginning-and-an-end-a-purpose-and-a/) [Jim Rohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-rohn/) > [What keeps me motivated is not the food itself but all the bonds and memories the food represents.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-chiarello/what-keeps-me-motivated-is-not-the-food-itself-but-all-the-bonds-and/) [Michael Chiarello](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-chiarello/) > [Our memory is a monster; you forget it - it does not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-irving/our-memory-is-a-monster-you-forget-it-it-does-not/) [John Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-irving/) > [In the name of Jerusalem. If I forget the extermination of the Jews, may my right hand wither, may my tongue stick to my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/menachem-begin/in-the-name-of-jerusalem-if-i-forget-the-extermination-of-the-jews/) [Menachem Begin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/menachem-begin/) > [Memory revises me. Even now a letter comes from a place I don’t know, from someone with my name and postmarked years ago, while…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/li-young-lee/memory-revises-me-even-now-a-letter-comes-from-a-place-i-don-t-know/) [Li-Young Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/li-young-lee/) > [As my films are born at the moment when they are reflected into another person's mind and memories, there are no misconceptions. I totally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pirjo-honkasalo/as-my-films-are-born-at-the-moment-when-they-are-reflected-into/) [Pirjo Honkasalo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pirjo-honkasalo/) > [Children, Never look Back!" and this meant that we must never allow the future to be weighed down by memory . for children have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/children-never-look-back-and-this-meant-that-we-must-never-allow-the/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [“ving self and others is an every second of every day of every week, of every month, of every year gift that should not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sanjo-jendayi/ving-self-and-others-is-an-every-second-of-every-day-of-every-week-of/) [Sanjo Jendayi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sanjo-jendayi/) [Browse all 11,132 Memories quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memories/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“As if I hadn't spent a lifetime pretending to forget.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kate Morton" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/as-if-i-hadn-t-spent-a-lifetime-pretending-to-forget/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Memories" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/as-if-i-hadn-t-spent-a-lifetime-pretending-to-forget/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6b/kate-morton-805_memories_as-if-i-hadn-t-spent-a-lifetime-pretendi_86136.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6b/kate-morton-805_memories_as-if-i-hadn-t-spent-a-lifetime-pretendi_86136.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6b/kate-morton-805_memories_as-if-i-hadn-t-spent-a-lifetime-pretendi_86136.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“As if I hadn't spent a lifetime pretending to forget.” — Kate Morton", "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": "Kate Morton", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“As if I hadn't spent a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/as-if-i-hadn-t-spent-a-lifetime-pretending-to-forget/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/as-if-i-hadn-t-spent-a-lifetime-pretending-to-forget/#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 } } ] } ```