--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Those of us who can remember our…" description: "\"Those of us who can remember our childhoods will recall how ardently we relished the moment of the bedtime story, when our mother or father would sit d..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c13/paul-auster-351_bedtime_those-of-us-who-can-remember-our-childho_2775928.jpg" --- # Those of us who can remember our childhoods will recall… ![“Those of us who can remember our childhoods will recall how ardently we relished the moment of the bedtime story, when our mother or father would sit down beside us in the semi-dark and read from a book of fairy tales.” quote by Paul Auster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c13/paul-auster-351_bedtime_those-of-us-who-can-remember-our-childho_2775928.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c13/paul-auster-351_bedtime_those-of-us-who-can-remember-our-childho_2775928.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c13/paul-auster-351_bedtime_those-of-us-who-can-remember-our-childho_2775928.jpg) > “Those of us who can remember our childhoods will recall how ardently we relished the moment of the bedtime story, when our mother or father would sit down beside us in the semi-dark and read from a book of fairy tales.” [Paul Auster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-auster/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Childhood bedtime stories create lasting emotional bonds and nurture imagination. **In simple terms:** Reading stories with parents builds deep, lasting memories. Key Takeaway Cherish and recreate storytelling moments. Themes family memory imagination storytelling childhood Mood nostalgic warm reflective Type literary reflective When to use this quote - parent‑child bedtime routine - literary education - intergenerational bonding Key Concepts attachment theory narrative psychology cultural tradition Questions to Reflect On - How can families keep storytelling alive today? - What emotions do bedtime stories evoke? A Different Perspective Modern digital distractions can erode these rituals. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bedtime](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bedtime/) [Bedtime stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bedtime-stories/) [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Childhood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/childhood/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Dark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dark/) [Fairy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fairy/) [Fairy tale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fairy-tale/) [Fairy tales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fairy-tales/) [Father](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/father/) [Moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moments/) [Mother](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mother/) [Parenting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parenting/) [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) [Storytelling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/storytelling/) [Tales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tales/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [When I was your age — about, ooh, a thousand years ago — I loved a good bedtime story. The Three Little Sontarans. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-gatiss/when-i-was-your-age-about-ooh-a-thousand-years-ago-i-loved-a-good/) [Mark Gatiss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-gatiss/) > [If you're really tired, I could put you to sleep," he said. "Tell you a bedtime story." She looked at him. "Are you serious?"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/if-you-re-really-tired-i-could-put-you-to-sleep-he-said-tell-you-a/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [“I read you guys your bedtime story, go to bed!" my sister shouted as she put water into the kettle. "But Mom," a small…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ottilie-weber/i-read-you-guys-your-bedtime-story-go-to-bed-my-sister-shouted-as-she/) [Ottilie Weber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ottilie-weber/) > [“Who said you had to be short to get a bedtime story?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kem/who-said-you-had-to-be-short-to-get-a-bedtime-story/) [Kem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kem/) > [“Shall I tell you a bedtime story?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-king/shall-i-tell-you-a-bedtime-story/) [Steven King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-king/) > [My son is 14, and I only have this time with him. True, it's not like before when I couldn't explain to a little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glenne-headly/my-son-is-14-and-i-only-have-this-time-with-him-true-it-s-not-like/) [Glenne Headly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glenne-headly/) > [My dream is to find a guy. Someone who can tell me a different bedtime story every night.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/famke-janssen/my-dream-is-to-find-a-guy-someone-who-can-tell-me-a-different-bedtime/) [Famke Janssen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/famke-janssen/) > [“I really love to read bedtime story for my kids before they fall asleep. 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All…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zach-woods/when-i-was-a-kid-my-father-would-read-neil-simon-plays-with-me-when-i/) [Zach Woods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zach-woods/) > [Hauntings are memes, especially pernicious thought contagions, social contagions that need no viral or bacterial host and are transmitted in a thousand different ways.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caitl-n-r-kiernan/hauntings-are-memes-especially-pernicious-thought-contagions-social/) [Caitlín R. Kiernan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caitl-n-r-kiernan/) > [My husband is old-fashioned and kind, he does the greatest Sinatra impression, and I'd never have written anything if he hadn't read all those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allison-pearson/my-husband-is-old-fashioned-and-kind-he-does-the-greatest-sinatra/) [Allison Pearson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allison-pearson/) > [“Bedtime stories Eventide Rhapsodies Anthologies of Memory Please enter cautiously and feel free to open what is closed”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erin-morgenstern/bedtime-stories-eventide-rhapsodies-anthologies-of-memory-please/) [Erin Morgenstern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erin-morgenstern/) > [So much for modern science and its wonderful discoveries that just about everything can kill you. Life is only a bedtime story before a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bloch/so-much-for-modern-science-and-its-wonderful-discoveries-that-just/) [Robert Bloch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bloch/) ## More by Paul Auster > [“On his best walks, he was able to feel that he was nowhere. And this, finally, was all he ever asked of things: to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/on-his-best-walks-he-was-able-to-feel-that-he-was-nowhere-and-this/) [Paul Auster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-auster/) > [“No es que escribir me produzca un gran placer, pero es mucho peor si no lo hago.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/no-es-que-escribir-me-produzca-un-gran-placer-pero-es-mucho-peor-si/) [Paul Auster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-auster/) > [You see, the interesting thing about books, as opposed, say, to films, is that it's always just one person encountering the book, it's not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/you-see-the-interesting-thing-about-books-as-opposed-say-to-films-is/) [Paul Auster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-auster/) > [I'm not a man deeply interested in technology. It eludes me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/i-m-not-a-man-deeply-interested-in-technology-it-eludes-me/) [Paul Auster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-auster/) > [The joke is the purest, most essential form of storytelling. Every word has to count.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/the-joke-is-the-purest-most-essential-form-of-storytelling-every-word/) [Paul Auster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-auster/) > [“What people saw when he appeared before them, then, was not really him, but a person he had invented, an artificial creature he could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/what-people-saw-when-he-appeared-before-them-then-was-not-really-him/) [Paul Auster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-auster/) > [I had made an empirical discovery and it carried all the weight of a mathematical proof.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/i-had-made-an-empirical-discovery-and-it-carried-all-the-weight-of-a/) [Paul Auster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-auster/) > [As long as there's one person to believe it, there's no story that can't be true.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/as-long-as-there-s-one-person-to-believe-it-there-s-no-story-that-can/) [Paul Auster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-auster/) > [Writing has always had a tactile quality for me. It's a physical experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/writing-has-always-had-a-tactile-quality-for-me-it-s-a-physical/) [Paul Auster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-auster/) > [People look at the same passage, and one person will say this is the best thing he's ever read, and another person will say…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/people-look-at-the-same-passage-and-one-person-will-say-this-is-the/) [Paul Auster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-auster/) > [I was very moved to see that the name of the boat was Hamlet - an imaginary character becomes so important to people, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/i-was-very-moved-to-see-that-the-name-of-the-boat-was-hamlet-an/) [Paul Auster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-auster/) > [Our lifelong certainties about the world can be demolished in a single second.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/our-lifelong-certainties-about-the-world-can-be-demolished-in-a/) [Paul Auster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-auster/) > [The ideal reader's the same, and I suppose this person has never had a face or a gender or an age. It's just some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/the-ideal-reader-s-the-same-and-i-suppose-this-person-has-never-had-a/) [Paul Auster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-auster/) > [“Most lives vanish. A person dies, and little by little all traces of that life disappear. An inventor survives in his inventions, an architect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/most-lives-vanish-a-person-dies-and-little-by-little-all-traces-of/) [Paul Auster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-auster/) > [“and cut down many trees. When the Humans”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/and-cut-down-many-trees-when-the-humans/) [Paul Auster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-auster/) [Explore all 582 Paul Auster quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-auster/) ## More Bedtime quotes > [I would give anything to be able to kick a ball with my son or read the kids a bedtime story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-burrow/i-would-give-anything-to-be-able-to-kick-a-ball-with-my-son-or-read/) [Rob Burrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-burrow/) > [When I was very young my mother sang to me at bedtime and my dad would often play the banjo or fiddle in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rory-block/when-i-was-very-young-my-mother-sang-to-me-at-bedtime-and-my-dad/) Rory Block > [“Once the umbilical cord falls off, bathe every evening as a matter of routine. Babies learn by association and they will associate bath time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-walker/once-the-umbilical-cord-falls-off-bathe-every-evening-as-a-matter-of/) Jennifer Walker > [So much for modern science and its wonderful discoveries that just about everything can kill you. Life is only a bedtime story before a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bloch/so-much-for-modern-science-and-its-wonderful-discoveries-that-just/) [Robert Bloch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bloch/) > [And, of course, some SF is set close enough to here and now that Anglo and European do apply. Since many of the writers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-schmidt/and-of-course-some-sf-is-set-close-enough-to-here-and-now-that-anglo/) [Stanley Schmidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-schmidt/) > [Unfortunately, I suffer from insomnia, so my bedtime is as soon as I start to feel the least bit sleepy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cheyenne-jackson/unfortunately-i-suffer-from-insomnia-so-my-bedtime-is-as-soon-as-i/) [Cheyenne Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cheyenne-jackson/) > [“Bedtime stories Eventide Rhapsodies Anthologies of Memory Please enter cautiously and feel free to open what is closed”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erin-morgenstern/bedtime-stories-eventide-rhapsodies-anthologies-of-memory-please/) [Erin Morgenstern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erin-morgenstern/) > [Ah, music, A magic far beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albus-dumbledore/ah-music-a-magic-far-beyond-all-we-do-here-and-now-bedtime-off-you/) [Albus Dumbledore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albus-dumbledore/) > [Don't fight with the pillow, but lay down your head And kick every worriment out of the bed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-vance-cooke/don-t-fight-with-the-pillow-but-lay-down-your-head-and-kick-every/) [Edmund Vance Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-vance-cooke/) > [ My four-year-old daughter regularly requests reading Book One \[the March\] at bedtime; the methods of reading, delivering, and processing the book's content vary according… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nate-powell/my-four-year-old-daughter-regularly-requests-reading-book-one-the/) [Nate Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nate-powell/) > [Unlike the majority of the writers of his age, La Rochefoucauld was an aristocrat; and this fact gives a peculiar tone to his work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lytton-strachey/unlike-the-majority-of-the-writers-of-his-age-la-rochefoucauld-was-an/) [Lytton Strachey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lytton-strachey/) > [My husband is old-fashioned and kind, he does the greatest Sinatra impression, and I'd never have written anything if he hadn't read all those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allison-pearson/my-husband-is-old-fashioned-and-kind-he-does-the-greatest-sinatra/) [Allison Pearson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allison-pearson/) > [Damn it, how will I ever get out of this labyrinth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-bolivar/damn-it-how-will-i-ever-get-out-of-this-labyrinth/) [Simon Bolivar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-bolivar/) > [Hauntings are memes, especially pernicious thought contagions, social contagions that need no viral or bacterial host and are transmitted in a thousand different ways.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caitl-n-r-kiernan/hauntings-are-memes-especially-pernicious-thought-contagions-social/) [Caitlín R. Kiernan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caitl-n-r-kiernan/) > [I used to go to Cold Stone Creamery, get a tub of Butterfinger ice cream, and eat it all before bedtime. And my fingers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vanessa-hudgens/i-used-to-go-to-cold-stone-creamery-get-a-tub-of-butterfinger-ice/) [Vanessa Hudgens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vanessa-hudgens/) [Browse all 215 Bedtime quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bedtime/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Those of us who can remember our childhoods will recall how ardently we relished the moment of the bedtime story, when our mother or father would sit down beside us in the semi-dark and read from a book of fairy tales.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Paul Auster" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/those-of-us-who-can-remember-our-childhoods-will-recall-how-ardently/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Bedtime" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/those-of-us-who-can-remember-our-childhoods-will-recall-how-ardently/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c13/paul-auster-351_bedtime_those-of-us-who-can-remember-our-childho_2775928.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c13/paul-auster-351_bedtime_those-of-us-who-can-remember-our-childho_2775928.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c13/paul-auster-351_bedtime_those-of-us-who-can-remember-our-childho_2775928.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Those of us who can remember our childhoods will recall how ardently we relished the moment of the bedtime…” — Paul Auster", "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": "Paul Auster", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-auster/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Those of us who can remember...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/those-of-us-who-can-remember-our-childhoods-will-recall-how-ardently/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-auster/those-of-us-who-can-remember-our-childhoods-will-recall-how-ardently/#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 } } ] } ```