--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: You have to begin to lose your memory, if…" description: "\"“You have to begin to lose your memory, if only in bits and pieces, to realise that memory is what makes our lives. Life without memory is no life at a..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa2/oliver-sacks-2132_amnesia_you-have-to-begin-to-lose-your-memory-if_2522271.jpg" --- # You have to begin to lose your memory, if only in bits and… ![“You have to begin to lose your memory, if only in bits and pieces, to realise that memory is what makes our lives. Life without memory is no life at all . . . Our memory is our coherence, our reason, our feeling, even our action. Without it, we are nothing . . . (I can only wait for the final…” quote by Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa2/oliver-sacks-2132_amnesia_you-have-to-begin-to-lose-your-memory-if_2522271.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa2/oliver-sacks-2132_amnesia_you-have-to-begin-to-lose-your-memory-if_2522271.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa2/oliver-sacks-2132_amnesia_you-have-to-begin-to-lose-your-memory-if_2522271.jpg) > ““You have to begin to lose your memory, if only in bits and pieces, to realise that memory is what makes our lives. Life without memory is no life at all . . . Our memory is our coherence, our reason, our feeling, even our action. Without it, we are nothing . . . (I can only wait for the final amnesia, the one that can erase an entire life, as it did my mother’s . . .) LUIS BUÑUEL This moving and frightening segment in Buñuel’s recently translated memoirs raises fundamental questions – clinical, practical, existential, philosophical: what sort of a life (if any), what sort of a world, what sort of a self, can be preserved in a man who has lost the greater part of his memory and, with this, his past, and his moorings in time?”” [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Memory is essential to identity; its loss erodes personal coherence and meaning. **In simple terms:** Memory defines us; losing it empties life. Key Takeaway Preserve and cherish memories. Themes identity memory existence Mood reflective empathetic Type philosophical clinical When to use this quote - elder care - personal reflection - clinical assessment Key Concepts philosophy neuroscience Questions to Reflect On - What memories anchor your sense of self? - How can you support those with memory loss? A Different Perspective Memory can be partially compensated by routines; not all loss is total. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Amnesia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amnesia/) [Entire life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/entire-life/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Memory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memory/) ## Related quotes > [You have to begin to lose your memory, if only in bits and pieces, to realize that memory is what makes our lives. Life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luis-bunuel/you-have-to-begin-to-lose-your-memory-if-only-in-bits-and-pieces-to-4/) [Luis Bunuel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luis-bunuel/) > [“You have to begin to lose your memory, if only in bits and pieces, to realize that memory is what makes our lives. Life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luis-bunuel/you-have-to-begin-to-lose-your-memory-if-only-in-bits-and-pieces-to-3/) [Luis Buñuel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luis-bunuel/) > [You have to begin to lose your memory, if only in bits and pieces, to realize that memory is what makes our lives. Life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luis-bunuel/you-have-to-begin-to-lose-your-memory-if-only-in-bits-and-pieces-to/) [Luis Buñuel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luis-bunuel/) > [“A life without memory is no life at all”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luis-bunuel/a-life-without-memory-is-no-life-at-all/) [Luis Bunuel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luis-bunuel/) > [Where would dictators be without our compliant amnesia? Make the collective lose its memory, you can conceal anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-stross/where-would-dictators-be-without-our-compliant-amnesia-make-the/) [Charles Stross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-stross/) > [“what sort of a life (if any), what sort of a world, what sort of a self, can be preserved in a man who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/what-sort-of-a-life-if-any-what-sort-of-a-world-what-sort-of-a-self/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Retrospectively, I would agree with Luis Bunuel that sex without sin is like an egg without salt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/retrospectively-i-would-agree-with-luis-bunuel-that-sex-without-sin/) [Carlos Fuentes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-fuentes/) > [Luis Bunuel made great movies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giancarlo-esposito/luis-bunuel-made-great-movies/) [Giancarlo Esposito](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giancarlo-esposito/) > [I think today there are too many directors taking themselves seriously; the only one capable of saying anything really new and interesting is Luis…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luchino-visconti/i-think-today-there-are-too-many-directors-taking-themselves/) [Luchino Visconti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luchino-visconti/) > [“During a party, Luis Buñuel, seduced by Carrington’s beauty and emboldened by the notion that she had transcended all bourgeois morality, proposed (with his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alejandro-jodorowsky/during-a-party-luis-bu-uel-seduced-by-carrington-s-beauty-and/) [Alejandro Jodorowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alejandro-jodorowsky/) > [A lot of Luis Bunuel's later, European films are all great.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-linklater/a-lot-of-luis-bunuel-s-later-european-films-are-all-great/) [Richard Linklater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-linklater/) > [Luis Bunuel's two semishort surrealist hand grenades (cowritten in varying degrees with Salvador Dali) make a double bill that can restore your faith in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luis-bunuel/luis-bunuel-s-two-semishort-surrealist-hand-grenades-cowritten-in/) [Luis Bunuel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luis-bunuel/) > [Well, I'm not able to work anymore as an actor and still at the level I would want to ... you start to lose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-newman/well-i-m-not-able-to-work-anymore-as-an-actor-and-still-at-the-level/) [Paul Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-newman/) > [I'm not able to work anymore as an actor and still at the level I would want to... you start to lose your memory.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-newman/i-m-not-able-to-work-anymore-as-an-actor-and-still-at-the-level-i/) [Paul Newman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-newman/) > [I always thought if I photographed anyone or anything enough, I would never lose the person, I would never lose the memory, I would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nan-goldin/i-always-thought-if-i-photographed-anyone-or-anything-enough-i-would/) [Nan Goldin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nan-goldin/) ## More by Oliver Sacks > [“The feelings are similar, in some ways, to those one has in Rome or Athens, but quite different in other ways, because this culture…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/the-feelings-are-similar-in-some-ways-to-those-one-has-in-rome-or/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [But the saddest difference between them was that Zazetsky, as Luria said, 'fought to regain his lost faculties with the indomitable tenacity of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/but-the-saddest-difference-between-them-was-that-zazetsky-as-luria/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Music can lift us out of depression or move us to tears - it is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ears.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/music-can-lift-us-out-of-depression-or-move-us-to-tears-it-is-a/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“We have five senses in which we glory and which we recognise and celebrate, senses that constitute the sensible world for us. But there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/we-have-five-senses-in-which-we-glory-and-which-we-recognise-and/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“But it must be said from the outset that a disease is never a mere loss or excess— that there is always a reaction,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/but-it-must-be-said-from-the-outset-that-a-disease-is-never-a-mere/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [There is no one part of the brain which recognizes or responds emotionally to music. Instead, there are many different parts responding to different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/there-is-no-one-part-of-the-brain-which-recognizes-or-responds/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [I think there is no culture in which music is not very important and central. That's why I think of us as a sort…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/i-think-there-is-no-culture-in-which-music-is-not-very-important-and/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Who cared if there was really any Being to pray to? What mattered was the sense of giving thanks and praise, the feeling of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/who-cared-if-there-was-really-any-being-to-pray-to-what-mattered-was/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“unconscious motives may sometimes ally themselves to physiological propensities, of how one cannot abstract an ailment or its treatment from the whole pattern, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/unconscious-motives-may-sometimes-ally-themselves-to-physiological/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“We have, each of us, a life-story, an inner narrative — whose continuity, whose sense, is our lives. It might be said that each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/we-have-each-of-us-a-life-story-an-inner-narrative-whose-continuity/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [I regard music therapy as a tool of great power in many neurological disorders -- Parkinson's and Alzheimer's -- because of its unique capacity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/i-regard-music-therapy-as-a-tool-of-great-power-in-many-neurological/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Psychotic hallucinations, whether they are visual or vocal, they address you. They accuse you. They seduce you. They humiliate you. They jeer at you.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/psychotic-hallucinations-whether-they-are-visual-or-vocal-they/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Much more of the brain is devoted to movement than to language. Language is only a little thing sitting on top of this huge…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/much-more-of-the-brain-is-devoted-to-movement-than-to-language/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [About 10 percent of the hearing impaired get musical hallucinations, and about 10 percent of the visually impaired get visual hallucinations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/about-10-percent-of-the-hearing-impaired-get-musical-hallucinations/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [The rhythm of music is very, very important for people with Parkinson's. But it's also very important with other sorts of patients, such as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/the-rhythm-of-music-is-very-very-important-for-people-with-parkinson/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) [Explore all 177 Oliver Sacks quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) ## More Amnesia quotes > [“Research on organised abuse emphasises the diversity of organised abuse cases, and the ways in which serious forms of child maltreatment cluster in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-salter/research-on-organised-abuse-emphasises-the-diversity-of-organised/) [Michael Salter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-salter/) > [“I never thought I'd get a second chance at a first time with you”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-andrews/i-never-thought-i-d-get-a-second-chance-at-a-first-time-with-you/) [Amy Andrews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-andrews/) > [“It’s a cool morning, raining out, and you’re a thirty-eight-year-old woman who can’t remember a thing about her life. A strange amnesia, one you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hope-nicholson/it-s-a-cool-morning-raining-out-and-you-re-a-thirty-eight-year-old/) [Hope Nicholson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hope-nicholson/) > [“The Bible is clear: amnesia produces apostasy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dale-ralph-davis/the-bible-is-clear-amnesia-produces-apostasy/) Dale Ralph Davis > [I Wish I Can Have Amnesia When It Comes To Some Of My Ex's I've Been With](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-payne/i-wish-i-can-have-amnesia-when-it-comes-to-some-of-my-ex-s-i-ve-been/) Thomas Payne > [It would never occur to me to map my research against events in my life, and the recent history of globalization seems to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keller-easterling/it-would-never-occur-to-me-to-map-my-research-against-events-in-my/) [Keller Easterling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keller-easterling/) > [“Details can change or go missing entirely, particularly in moments of physical peril. A kind of amnesia goes hand in hand with sickness, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-rakoff/details-can-change-or-go-missing-entirely-particularly-in-moments-of/) [David Rakoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-rakoff/) > [& everytime I see her I sees ya, got you runnin' through my mind , jog my memories amnesia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/drake/everytime-i-see-her-i-sees-ya-got-you-runnin-through-my-mind-jog-my/) [Drake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/drake/) > [Short-term amnesia is not the worst affliction if you have an Irish flair for the sauce.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/short-term-amnesia-is-not-the-worst-affliction-if-you-have-an-irish/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [Sometimes people who want to understand Haiti from a political perspective may be missing part of the picture. They also need to look at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-bertrand-aristide/sometimes-people-who-want-to-understand-haiti-from-a-political/) [Jean-Bertrand Aristide](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-bertrand-aristide/) > [Human beings can be redeemed. Empires cannot. Our refusal to face the truth about empire, our refusal to defy the multitudinous crimes and atrocities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-hedges/human-beings-can-be-redeemed-empires-cannot-our-refusal-to-face-the/) [Chris Hedges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-hedges/) > [“Call me crazy, but there is something terribly wrong with this city.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathan-reese-maher/call-me-crazy-but-there-is-something-terribly-wrong-with-this-city/) [Nathan Reese Maher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathan-reese-maher/) > [“He found her utterly fascinating, a nameless, homeless, naked vampire, sleeping away the day in his bed, wanted by state and federal police.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/travis-luedke/he-found-her-utterly-fascinating-a-nameless-homeless-naked-vampire/) [Travis Luedke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/travis-luedke/) > [We are the United States of Amnesia, which is encouraged by a media that has no desire to tell us the truth about anything,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/we-are-the-united-states-of-amnesia-which-is-encouraged-by-a-media/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [I'm helpless in post-round, hole-by-hole interviews. I can't take you through most of the holes of winning the Players Championship, the U.S. Amateur or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-kuchar/i-m-helpless-in-post-round-hole-by-hole-interviews-i-can-t-take-you/) [Matt Kuchar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-kuchar/) [Browse all 248 Amnesia quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amnesia/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“You have to begin to lose your memory, if only in bits and pieces, to realise that memory is what makes our lives. Life without memory is no life at all . . . Our memory is our coherence, our reason, our feeling, even our action. Without it, we are nothing . . . (I can only wait for the final amnesia, the one that can erase an entire life, as it did my mother’s . . .) LUIS BUÑUEL This moving and frightening segment in Buñuel’s recently translated memoirs raises fundamental questions – clinical, practical, existential, philosophical: what sort of a life (if any), what sort of a world, what sort of a self, can be preserved in a man who has lost the greater part of his memory and, with this, his past, and his moorings in time?”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Oliver Sacks" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/you-have-to-begin-to-lose-your-memory-if-only-in-bits-and-pieces-to-2/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Amnesia" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/you-have-to-begin-to-lose-your-memory-if-only-in-bits-and-pieces-to-2/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa2/oliver-sacks-2132_amnesia_you-have-to-begin-to-lose-your-memory-if_2522271.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa2/oliver-sacks-2132_amnesia_you-have-to-begin-to-lose-your-memory-if_2522271.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fa2/oliver-sacks-2132_amnesia_you-have-to-begin-to-lose-your-memory-if_2522271.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“You have to begin to lose your memory, if only in bits and pieces, to realise that memory is what makes our…” — Oliver Sacks", "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": "Oliver Sacks", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“You have to begin to lose...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/you-have-to-begin-to-lose-your-memory-if-only-in-bits-and-pieces-to-2/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/you-have-to-begin-to-lose-your-memory-if-only-in-bits-and-pieces-to-2/#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 } } ] } ```