--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Memory has always been fundamental for…" description: "\"Memory has always been fundamental for me. In fact, remembering what I had forgotten is the way most of the poems get started.\" — Seamus Heaney" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bf/seamus-heaney-1711_always_memory-has-always-been-fundamental-for-m_2064495.png" --- # Memory has always been fundamental for me. In fact… ![“Memory has always been fundamental for me. In fact, remembering what I had forgotten is the way most of the poems get started.” quote by Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bf/seamus-heaney-1711_always_memory-has-always-been-fundamental-for-m_2064495.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bf/seamus-heaney-1711_always_memory-has-always-been-fundamental-for-m_2064495.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bf/seamus-heaney-1711_always_memory-has-always-been-fundamental-for-m_2064495.png) > “Memory has always been fundamental for me. In fact, remembering what I had forgotten is the way most of the poems get started.” [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Memory fuels creativity; forgotten experiences become poetic material when recalled. **In simple terms:** Memory sparks poetry. Key Takeaway Recall forgotten moments to inspire writing. Themes creativity memory poetry Mood reflective introspective Type literary inspirational When to use this quote - writing workshops - personal journals - teaching literature - creative therapy Key Concepts cognitive recall inspiration Questions to Reflect On - How does recalling a forgotten detail change its meaning? - What role does memory play in your creative process? A Different Perspective Memory alone may not guarantee depth without reflection. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Always](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/always/) [Forgotten](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forgotten/) [Memory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memory/) [Memory Fundamental](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memory-fundamental-3955223/) [Poems Started](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poems-started-572088/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Remembering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remembering/) [Remembering Forgotten](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remembering-forgotten-3955224/) [Started](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/started/) [Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/) ## Related quotes > [As a university student, I tried hard to write poems in Korean. It was at that time that I foresaw my death and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-hyesoon/as-a-university-student-i-tried-hard-to-write-poems-in-korean-it-was/) [Kim Hyesoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-hyesoon/) > [As a sick kid, I always looked out the window. The objects of my observation were the sun, the seasons, the wind, crazy people,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-hyesoon/as-a-sick-kid-i-always-looked-out-the-window-the-objects-of-my/) [Kim Hyesoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-hyesoon/) > [I had always written. I had written stories and poems. Then I started writing plays.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lena-dunham/i-had-always-written-i-had-written-stories-and-poems-then-i-started/) [Lena Dunham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lena-dunham/) > [One of my graduate school professors, to whom I started sending poems when I started writing again after a 10-year hiatus, suggested I prepare…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-nelson/one-of-my-graduate-school-professors-to-whom-i-started-sending-poems/) [Marilyn Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-nelson/) > [I like having a phrase lying around to get poems started. It's like having a key.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shane-mccrae/i-like-having-a-phrase-lying-around-to-get-poems-started-it-s-like/) [Shane McCrae](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shane-mccrae/) > [I wondered if there would ever be a day when I didn't think about Alaska, wondered whether I should hope for a time when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/i-wondered-if-there-would-ever-be-a-day-when-i-didn-t-think-about/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [Mathematics is the surest way to immortality. If you make a big discovery in mathematics, you will be remembered after everyone else will be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-erdos/mathematics-is-the-surest-way-to-immortality-if-you-make-a-big/) [Paul Erdos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-erdos/) > [“reading a book, or remembering something I heard on the radio last week, or admiring the flowers on the table, I am doing”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-durham/reading-a-book-or-remembering-something-i-heard-on-the-radio-last/) [Geoffrey Durham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-durham/) > [I just remember, all I'm doing is remembering when I was a kid I remember that they used to put out there in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-w-bush/i-just-remember-all-i-m-doing-is-remembering-when-i-was-a-kid-i/) [George W. Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-w-bush/) > [“Put that thing down, girl. Don't you know it steals part of your soul, that little mechanical masterpiece you hold so frivolously? Don't you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shannon-noelle-long/put-that-thing-down-girl-don-t-you-know-it-steals-part-of-your-soul/) [Shannon Noelle Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shannon-noelle-long/) > [“A memory that costs you something," he said aloud, almost to himself. "One that hurts to remember. That makes you regret what you did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daria-lavelle/a-memory-that-costs-you-something-he-said-aloud-almost-to-himself-one/) [Daria Lavelle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daria-lavelle/) > [For those of us who try to keep remembering, Try to do our better than our best. Think of all the children in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zooey-deschanel/for-those-of-us-who-try-to-keep-remembering-try-to-do-our-better-than/) [Zooey Deschanel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zooey-deschanel/) > [“Even though every piece of today feels small. I’ll do today, glancing up and remembering a race is completed the same way this book…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennie-allen/even-though-every-piece-of-today-feels-small-i-ll-do-today-glancing/) [Jennie Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennie-allen/) > [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/) > [“The days may last forever, but the years pass by in a blink; the secret to survival is actually remembering to take a deep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jill-smokler/the-days-may-last-forever-but-the-years-pass-by-in-a-blink-the-secret/) [Jill Smokler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jill-smokler/) ## More by Seamus Heaney > [You had to come back to learn how to lose yourself, to be pilot and stray-witch, Hansel and Gretel in one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/you-had-to-come-back-to-learn-how-to-lose-yourself-to-be-pilot-and/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [If self is a location, so is love: Bearings taken, markings, cardinal points, Options, obstinacies, dug heels, and distance, Here and there and now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/if-self-is-a-location-so-is-love-bearings-taken-markings-cardinal/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [I'm very conscious that people dear to me are alive in my imagination - poets in particular.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/i-m-very-conscious-that-people-dear-to-me-are-alive-in-my-imagination/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Once I was on the job, once I had got started, I felt safe enough, but the anticipation made me tense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/once-i-was-on-the-job-once-i-had-got-started-i-felt-safe-enough-but/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [You can have Irish identity in the north and also have your Irish passport.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/you-can-have-irish-identity-in-the-north-and-also-have-your-irish/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [The external reality and inner dynamic of happenings in Northern Ireland between 1968 and 1974 were symptomatic of change, violent change admittedly, but change…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/the-external-reality-and-inner-dynamic-of-happenings-in-northern/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Hope for a great sea-change timid to rebuke and too petty to forgive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/hope-for-a-great-sea-change-timid-to-rebuke-and-too-petty-to-forgive/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [One of the very first poems I wrote was Docker That fist would drop a hammer on a Catholic and one of the sturdiest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/one-of-the-very-first-poems-i-wrote-was-docker-that-fist-would-drop-a/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Anything Can Happen is also, incidentally, a poem that arose from teaching. I'd talked about the Horace Ode (I, 34) \[on which the poem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/anything-can-happen-is-also-incidentally-a-poem-that-arose-from/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Poetry is always slightly mysterious, and you wonder what is your relationship to it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/poetry-is-always-slightly-mysterious-and-you-wonder-what-is-your/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Sink every impulse like a bolt. Secure The bastion of sensation. Do not waver Into language. Do not waver in it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/sink-every-impulse-like-a-bolt-secure-the-bastion-of-sensation-do-not/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Two buckets were easier carried than one. / I grew up in between.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/two-buckets-were-easier-carried-than-one-i-grew-up-in-between/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [I suppose I'm saying that defiance is actually part of the lyric job](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/i-suppose-i-m-saying-that-defiance-is-actually-part-of-the-lyric-job/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [“It is said that once upon a time St. Kevin was kneeling with his arms stretched out in the form of a cross in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/it-is-said-that-once-upon-a-time-st-kevin-was-kneeling-with-his-arms/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [My father and mother had no sense of entitlement for their children.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/my-father-and-mother-had-no-sense-of-entitlement-for-their-children/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) [Explore all 214 Seamus Heaney quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) ## More Always quotes > [I think performing has pretty much always been a part of me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isa-briones/i-think-performing-has-pretty-much-always-been-a-part-of-me/) [Isa Briones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isa-briones/) > [I always thought if I was born 2000 years earlier, I would be a monk, probably carving a monastery or some giant pantheon buildings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenova-chen/i-always-thought-if-i-was-born-2000-years-earlier-i-would-be-a-monk/) [Jenova Chen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenova-chen/) > [I always like a character who makes me laugh.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachael-stirling/i-always-like-a-character-who-makes-me-laugh/) [Rachael Stirling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachael-stirling/) > [It's always great to see old friends, especially those I have not been able to see in 15 months.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-regal/it-s-always-great-to-see-old-friends-especially-those-i-have-not-been/) [William Regal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-regal/) > [When you step out and do a song in a musical, the easier thing to do is make it funny. But when those transitions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kelli-o-hara/when-you-step-out-and-do-a-song-in-a-musical-the-easier-thing-to-do/) [Kelli O'Hara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kelli-o-hara/) > [I have really good lateral movement. I've always had quick lateral movement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-rivers/i-have-really-good-lateral-movement-i-ve-always-had-quick-lateral/) [Austin Rivers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-rivers/) > [There is something magical about being able to feel somebody. And that is something that has always moved me with music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-brink/there-is-something-magical-about-being-able-to-feel-somebody-and-that/) [Maria Brink](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-brink/) > [Mythology is something that always has opportunities to explore. 'It' has been on Earth for millions of years. He's been in contact with humans…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-muschietti/mythology-is-something-that-always-has-opportunities-to-explore-it/) [Andy Muschietti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-muschietti/) > [It's not writing in the traditional sense, but I've always said that the writing process continues on the set and even into the editing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-b-weide/it-s-not-writing-in-the-traditional-sense-but-i-ve-always-said-that/) [Robert B. Weide](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-b-weide/) > [I always watch my matches back 100 times afterwards because that's how I improve. This is something I've always done, even in NXT.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mandy-rose/i-always-watch-my-matches-back-100-times-afterwards-because-that-s/) [Mandy Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mandy-rose/) > [I've always been of the idea that is doesn't really matter where you are geographically - with 'Lonerism,' we made half the album in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-parker/i-ve-always-been-of-the-idea-that-is-doesn-t-really-matter-where-you/) [Kevin Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-parker/) > [It's very easy to fool yourself that you're working, you know, when you're really not working very hard. I mean, I'm very lazy. So…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-caro/it-s-very-easy-to-fool-yourself-that-you-re-working-you-know-when-you/) [Robert Caro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-caro/) > [Whether it was Little League or playing with your brothers or sisters, that was always a problem. If I would lose - because I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cal-ripken-jr/whether-it-was-little-league-or-playing-with-your-brothers-or-sisters/) [Cal Ripken, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cal-ripken-jr/) > [I always say if you put someone from a small town into a big city for ten years, then when they go back, they'll…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-colter/i-always-say-if-you-put-someone-from-a-small-town-into-a-big-city-for/) [Mike Colter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-colter/) > [Bayern is always a team that can win the Champions League title in Europe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lothar-matthaus/bayern-is-always-a-team-that-can-win-the-champions-league-title-in/) [Lothar Matthaus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lothar-matthaus/) [Browse all 36,048 Always quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/always/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Memory has always been fundamental for me. In fact, remembering what I had forgotten is the way most of the poems get started.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Seamus Heaney" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/memory-has-always-been-fundamental-for-me-in-fact-remembering-what-i/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Always" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/memory-has-always-been-fundamental-for-me-in-fact-remembering-what-i/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bf/seamus-heaney-1711_always_memory-has-always-been-fundamental-for-m_2064495.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bf/seamus-heaney-1711_always_memory-has-always-been-fundamental-for-m_2064495.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bf/seamus-heaney-1711_always_memory-has-always-been-fundamental-for-m_2064495.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Memory has always been fundamental for me. In fact, remembering what I had forgotten is the way most of the…” — Seamus Heaney", "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": "Seamus Heaney", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Memory has always been fundamental for...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/memory-has-always-been-fundamental-for-me-in-fact-remembering-what-i/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/memory-has-always-been-fundamental-for-me-in-fact-remembering-what-i/#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 } } ] } ```