--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: She said she had been thinking about the…" description: "\"“She said she had been thinking about the way you remembered your past. What you remembered, she said, was a string of events and years stretching back..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bf/peter-h-eg-3553_early-childhood_she-said-she-had-been-thinking-about-the_260577.jpg" --- # She said she had been thinking about the way you… ![“She said she had been thinking about the way you remembered your past. What you remembered, she said, was a string of events and years stretching back from the point where you now found yourself. In other words, a line of time. This might be coloured differently, depending upon what had happened…” quote by Peter Høeg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bf/peter-h-eg-3553_early-childhood_she-said-she-had-been-thinking-about-the_260577.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bf/peter-h-eg-3553_early-childhood_she-said-she-had-been-thinking-about-the_260577.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bf/peter-h-eg-3553_early-childhood_she-said-she-had-been-thinking-about-the_260577.jpg) > ““She said she had been thinking about the way you remembered your past. What you remembered, she said, was a string of events and years stretching back from the point where you now found yourself. In other words, a line of time. This might be coloured differently, depending upon what had happened to you. For example, if you had lost someone then it would be black. Other spots might be lighter. On some sections of the line time would have passed quickly, on other sections more slowly. But, for a long way back, it would still be a line. Though not all the way back – at any rate, not in her case – and what about me? She asked me to think about it. For her, she said, and maybe for everyone, if you went far enough back the line disintegrated. If you went all the way back to your early childhood it was no longer a line. Then there was a sort of landscape of events. You could not remember their sequence, maybe they had none, they just lay scattered about, as if on a plain. She believed that this plain belonged to the days before time had entered your world.”” [Peter Høeg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-h-eg/) ## 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 portrayed as a colored timeline that fragments into a landscape when tracing back to early childhood, suggesting that early experiences lack linear order. **In simple terms:** Memory is a line that breaks into a plain in early childhood. Key Takeaway Recognize that early memories may be non‑linear and fragmented. Themes memory time identity psychology perception Mood reflective melancholic curious Type philosophical analytical narrative When to use this quote - therapy sessions - personal reflection - creative writing - storytelling - psychological research Key Concepts linear vs non‑linear memory subjective time childhood development Questions to Reflect On - How do you experience the flow of time in your memories? - Can early experiences be organized without a timeline? A Different Perspective Memory may not be reliable for reconstructing exact sequences of early events. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Early childhood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/early-childhood/) [Long way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long-way/) [Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past/) [Past Remembered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past-remembered-352225/) [Remembered Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remembered-past-1012683/) [Remembered Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remembered-said-2054956/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Time Passed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time-passed/) ## Related quotes > [“thinking about the way you remembered your past. What you remembered, she said, was a string of events and years stretching back from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-h-eg/thinking-about-the-way-you-remembered-your-past-what-you-remembered/) [Peter Høeg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-h-eg/) > [“As time passed from solstice to mild solstice in those occluded zones of my early childhood, I played beneath the distracted majesty of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-conroy/as-time-passed-from-solstice-to-mild-solstice-in-those-occluded-zones/) [Pat Conroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-conroy/) > [“The dilapidation was not a memory but a representation of a poorly remembered past.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-garland/the-dilapidation-was-not-a-memory-but-a-representation-of-a-poorly/) [Alex Garland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-garland/) > [“Then again, maybe nostalgia was an understandable response to a world that appeared to be going all to hell, as long as everyone remembered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-connolly/then-again-maybe-nostalgia-was-an-understandable-response-to-a-world/) [John Connolly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-connolly/) > [“Yes, but it doesn’t matter, Csíkszentmihalyi argues. Either way, we experience flow, a state of mind where we are so engaged in an activity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-weiner/yes-but-it-doesn-t-matter-cs-kszentmihalyi-argues-either-way-we/) [Eric Weiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-weiner/) > [“I am suggesting is that the past, as we remember it, has little to do with causal or determining factos that have in some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernesto-spinelli/i-am-suggesting-is-that-the-past-as-we-remember-it-has-little-to-do/) [Ernesto Spinelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernesto-spinelli/) > [A stupid past will always be remembered, but can never be change. But a mistake can always be corrected and should never be repeated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sosierhymestar/a-stupid-past-will-always-be-remembered-but-can-never-be-change-but-a/) [SosieRhymeStar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sosierhymestar/) > [The past is remembered as if it were a drama in which the self was the leading player](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-greenwald/the-past-is-remembered-as-if-it-were-a-drama-in-which-the-self-was/) [Anthony Greenwald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-greenwald/) > [An underexplored reason why nostalgic art is worthwhile is that it influences the way the past is remembered.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/porter-robinson/an-underexplored-reason-why-nostalgic-art-is-worthwhile-is-that-it/) [Porter Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/porter-robinson/) > [The past has to be remembered, so that it's never repeated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernhard-schlink/the-past-has-to-be-remembered-so-that-it-s-never-repeated/) [Bernhard Schlink](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernhard-schlink/) > [“Even then one sensed that it must be a rule. That time could not be something that passed all by itself but was something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-h-eg/even-then-one-sensed-that-it-must-be-a-rule-that-time-could-not-be/) [Peter Høeg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-h-eg/) > [“We’ve all lost, Noah. But now, it’s about how we pick ourselves up and move forward. Wallowing in the past doesn’t help. The past…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-hackett/we-ve-all-lost-noah-but-now-it-s-about-how-we-pick-ourselves-up-and/) [Anna Hackett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-hackett/) > [Even to of what the past you want to have forgotten, only the future is of the past to be remembered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melchor-lim/even-to-of-what-the-past-you-want-to-have-forgotten-only-the-future/) [Melchor Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melchor-lim/) > [The leafy blossoming present time springs from the whole past, remembered and unrememberable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/the-leafy-blossoming-present-time-springs-from-the-whole-past/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [“You are remembered, he said, prophetically, for the rules you break.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-knight/you-are-remembered-he-said-prophetically-for-the-rules-you-break/) [Phil Knight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-knight/) ## More by Peter Høeg > [“Time is something you have to hold on to.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-h-eg/time-is-something-you-have-to-hold-on-to/) [Peter Høeg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-h-eg/) > [“When you are in the company of people who look down upon themselves as though they were animals, you too become like an animal.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-h-eg/when-you-are-in-the-company-of-people-who-look-down-upon-themselves/) [Peter Høeg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-h-eg/) > [“With age I have voluntarily chosen certain limitations. I don't have the energy to start over again. To learn new skills or fight my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-h-eg/with-age-i-have-voluntarily-chosen-certain-limitations-i-don-t-have/) [Peter Høeg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-h-eg/) > [“That was the way of the rule. They had so many to keep an eye on. As long as you kept a low profile,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-h-eg/that-was-the-way-of-the-rule-they-had-so-many-to-keep-an-eye-on-as/) [Peter Høeg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-h-eg/) > [“That was what we meant by science. That both question and answer are tied up with uncertainty, and that they are painful. But that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-h-eg/that-was-what-we-meant-by-science-that-both-question-and-answer-are/) [Peter Høeg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-h-eg/) > [I like him. I have a weakness for losers. Invalids, foreigners, the fat boy of the class, the ones nobody ever wants to dance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-h-eg/i-like-him-i-have-a-weakness-for-losers-invalids-foreigners-the-fat/) [Peter Høeg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-h-eg/) > [“There's no simple aritmetic for life's distribution of happiness and sorrow, no such thing as a standard share.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-h-eg/there-s-no-simple-aritmetic-for-life-s-distribution-of-happiness-and/) [Peter Høeg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-h-eg/) > [“The cookies combine butter and spices in such a way that you could eat a hundred of them and only realize how sick you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-h-eg/the-cookies-combine-butter-and-spices-in-such-a-way-that-you-could/) [Peter Høeg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-h-eg/) > [It's these small differences in people's karma that determine if we get up or remain lying on the ground.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-h-eg/it-s-these-small-differences-in-people-s-karma-that-determine-if-we/) [Peter Høeg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-h-eg/) > [There's a look of mischief in his eyes. 'Smilla. Why is it that such an elegant and petite girl like you has such a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-h-eg/there-s-a-look-of-mischief-in-his-eyes-smilla-why-is-it-that-such-an/) [Peter Høeg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-h-eg/) > [When my mother didn't come back I realized that any moment could be the last. Nothing in life should simply be a passage from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-h-eg/when-my-mother-didn-t-come-back-i-realized-that-any-moment-could-be/) [Peter Høeg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-h-eg/) > [She was transparent, like a watercolor. As if she were about to dissolve in sound, in tones not yet created.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-h-eg/she-was-transparent-like-a-watercolor-as-if-she-were-about-to/) [Peter Høeg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-h-eg/) > [“As far as I'm concerned, you could send all the cars in the world through a compactor and shoot them out through the stratosphere…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-h-eg/as-far-as-i-m-concerned-you-could-send-all-the-cars-in-the-world/) [Peter Høeg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-h-eg/) > [I don't fall in love anymore. Just like I don't get the mumps.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-h-eg/i-don-t-fall-in-love-anymore-just-like-i-don-t-get-the-mumps/) [Peter Høeg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-h-eg/) > [Confronted with people who have power, and who enjoy using it, I turn into a different person, a baser and meaner one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-h-eg/confronted-with-people-who-have-power-and-who-enjoy-using-it-i-turn/) [Peter Høeg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-h-eg/) [Explore all 110 Peter Høeg quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-h-eg/) ## More Early childhood quotes > [Love is the supreme form of communication. In the hierarchy of needs, love stands as the supreme developing agent of the humanity of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashley-montagu/love-is-the-supreme-form-of-communication-in-the-hierarchy-of-needs/) [Ashley Montagu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashley-montagu/) > [“By the time they're out of preschool, most children have already seen thousands of acts of violence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-k-vaughan/by-the-time-they-re-out-of-preschool-most-children-have-already-seen/) [Brian K. Vaughan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-k-vaughan/) > [Very early in my childhood I associated poverty, toil, unemployment, drunkenness, cruelty, quarreling, fighting, debts, jail with large families.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-sanger/very-early-in-my-childhood-i-associated-poverty-toil-unemployment/) [Margaret Sanger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-sanger/) > [We do not put enough emphasis on early childhood years. We neglect children in this society; as a society we're guilty of child neglect.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-babbitt/we-do-not-put-enough-emphasis-on-early-childhood-years-we-neglect/) [Bruce Babbitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-babbitt/) > [“If a child connects being hurt with being bad, weak, unable to cope, or constantly surrounded by threat, there is no room left for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/if-a-child-connects-being-hurt-with-being-bad-weak-unable-to-cope-or/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [In early childhood, children develop a set of symbols that 'stand for' things they see in the world around them... Children are happy with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betty-edwards/in-early-childhood-children-develop-a-set-of-symbols-that-stand-for/) [Betty Edwards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betty-edwards/) > [The whole narcissism and echo syndrome is usually the result of early childhood training. Those are very hard habits for anyone to break.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/merrill-markoe/the-whole-narcissism-and-echo-syndrome-is-usually-the-result-of-early/) [Merrill Markoe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/merrill-markoe/) > [My early childhood was notable by an absence of proper meals and highly processed food.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ulrika-jonsson/my-early-childhood-was-notable-by-an-absence-of-proper-meals-and/) [Ulrika Jonsson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ulrika-jonsson/) > [From early childhood I had always dreamed of becoming an explorer. Somehow I had acquired the impression that an explorer was someone who lived…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-goddard/from-early-childhood-i-had-always-dreamed-of-becoming-an-explorer/) [John Goddard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-goddard/) > [“When the power falls on me, it buzzes in the warm, dark spaces of my skull. It stings like nettles at the tips of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victoria-lamb/when-the-power-falls-on-me-it-buzzes-in-the-warm-dark-spaces-of-my/) [Victoria Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victoria-lamb/) > [“Mind is just a word we use to describe neural activity in the brain. No brain, no mind. We know this because if a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/mind-is-just-a-word-we-use-to-describe-neural-activity-in-the-brain/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [New York rushed to get students into early childhood programs, but the research is clear that it has to be high quality. What we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pedro-noguera/new-york-rushed-to-get-students-into-early-childhood-programs-but-the/) [Pedro Noguera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pedro-noguera/) > [“Losing Abby wasn't a story I remembered from early childhood--it was in my face, debilitating me like a sickness, robbing me of my senses…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamie-mcguire/losing-abby-wasn-t-a-story-i-remembered-from-early-childhood-it-was/) [Jamie McGuire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamie-mcguire/) > [“How we perceive, feel about and respond to people and situations is far more guided by the lessons of early childhood than we would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlette-mikulka/how-we-perceive-feel-about-and-respond-to-people-and-situations-is/) [Charlette Mikulka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlette-mikulka/) > [I suppose if you look back to your early childhood you accept everything people tell you, and that includes a heavy dose of irrationality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/i-suppose-if-you-look-back-to-your-early-childhood-you-accept/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) [Browse all 235 Early childhood quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/early-childhood/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“She said she had been thinking about the way you remembered your past. What you remembered, she said, was a string of events and years stretching back from the point where you now found yourself. In other words, a line of time. This might be coloured differently, depending upon what had happened to you. For example, if you had lost someone then it would be black. Other spots might be lighter. On some sections of the line time would have passed quickly, on other sections more slowly. But, for a long way back, it would still be a line. Though not all the way back – at any rate, not in her case – and what about me? She asked me to think about it. For her, she said, and maybe for everyone, if you went far enough back the line disintegrated. If you went all the way back to your early childhood it was no longer a line. Then there was a sort of landscape of events. You could not remember their sequence, maybe they had none, they just lay scattered about, as if on a plain. She believed that this plain belonged to the days before time had entered your world.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Peter Høeg" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-h-eg/she-said-she-had-been-thinking-about-the-way-you-remembered-your-past/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Early childhood" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-h-eg/she-said-she-had-been-thinking-about-the-way-you-remembered-your-past/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bf/peter-h-eg-3553_early-childhood_she-said-she-had-been-thinking-about-the_260577.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bf/peter-h-eg-3553_early-childhood_she-said-she-had-been-thinking-about-the_260577.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4bf/peter-h-eg-3553_early-childhood_she-said-she-had-been-thinking-about-the_260577.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“She said she had been thinking about the way you remembered your past. What you remembered, she said, was a…” — Peter Høeg", "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": "Peter Høeg", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-h-eg/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“She said she had been thinking...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-h-eg/she-said-she-had-been-thinking-about-the-way-you-remembered-your-past/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-h-eg/she-said-she-had-been-thinking-about-the-way-you-remembered-your-past/#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 } } ] } ```