--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is funny, but it strikes me that a…" description: "\"It is funny, but it strikes me that a person without anecdotes that they nurse while they live, and that survive them, are more likely to be utterly lo..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/da8/sebastian-barry-3654_anecdotes_it-is-funny-but-it-strikes-me-that-a-per_1141307.jpg" --- # It is funny, but it strikes me that a person without… ![“It is funny, but it strikes me that a person without anecdotes that they nurse while they live, and that survive them, are more likely to be utterly lost not only to history but the family following them. Of course this is the fate of most souls, reducing entire lives, no matter how vivid and…” quote by Sebastian Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/da8/sebastian-barry-3654_anecdotes_it-is-funny-but-it-strikes-me-that-a-per_1141307.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/da8/sebastian-barry-3654_anecdotes_it-is-funny-but-it-strikes-me-that-a-per_1141307.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/da8/sebastian-barry-3654_anecdotes_it-is-funny-but-it-strikes-me-that-a-per_1141307.jpg) > “It is funny, but it strikes me that a person without anecdotes that they nurse while they live, and that survive them, are more likely to be utterly lost not only to history but the family following them. Of course this is the fate of most souls, reducing entire lives, no matter how vivid and wonderful, to those sad black names on withering family trees, with half a date dangling after and a question mark.” [Sebastian Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-barry/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Personal stories preserve identity; without them, lives become nameless and forgotten. **In simple terms:** Stories keep us remembered. Key Takeaway Share and record personal anecdotes. Themes memory family history Mood nostalgic thoughtful Type historical reflective When to use this quote - genealogy research - family reunions - cultural preservation Key Concepts narrative identity legacy Questions to Reflect On - What stories define your family’s identity? - How can we preserve memories for future generations? A Different Perspective It may overemphasize anecdotal evidence. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Anecdotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anecdotes/) [Family](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/family/) [Fate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fate/) [Nurse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nurse/) [Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul/) [Strikes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strikes/) [Tree](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tree/) [Vivid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vivid/) [Wonderful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wonderful/) ## Related quotes > [“Most family trees have”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kimberly-powell/most-family-trees-have/) Kimberly Powell > [It's impossible for most black Americans to construct full family trees. Official census records, used by so many genealogy enthusiasts to piece together their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/it-s-impossible-for-most-black-americans-to-construct-full-family/) [Jesmyn Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/) > [There are just so many stories that are buried on family trees.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-louis-gates/there-are-just-so-many-stories-that-are-buried-on-family-trees/) [Henry Louis Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-louis-gates/) > [So when you do your family tree and Margaret Cho does hers, and... Wanda Sykes and John Legend... we're adding to the database that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-louis-gates/so-when-you-do-your-family-tree-and-margaret-cho-does-hers-and-wanda/) [Henry Louis Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-louis-gates/) > [Some family trees bear an enormous crop of nuts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-huizenga/some-family-trees-bear-an-enormous-crop-of-nuts/) [Wayne Huizenga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-huizenga/) > [“home. What did two of Louis and Regina Borgenicht’s sons do? They went to law school, and no less than nine of their grandchildren…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-gladwell/home-what-did-two-of-louis-and-regina-borgenicht-s-sons-do-they-went/) [Malcolm Gladwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-gladwell/) > [And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/and-some-things-that-should-not-have-been-forgotten-were-lost-history/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Truly it has been said that there is nothing new under the sun, for knowledge is revealed and is submerged again, even as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paracelsus/truly-it-has-been-said-that-there-is-nothing-new-under-the-sun-for/) [Paracelsus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paracelsus/) > [The problem is fundamental... It is as if a secret committee, now lost to history, has made a study of children and, having figured…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracy-kidder/the-problem-is-fundamental-it-is-as-if-a-secret-committee-now-lost-to/) [Tracy Kidder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracy-kidder/) > [What happens, happens. It's permanent, forever lost in history. There's no turning back & time stops for no one. But the things I'd re-do...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/what-happens-happens-it-s-permanent-forever-lost-in-history-there-s/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [A family of trees wanting to be haunted](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mgmt/a-family-of-trees-wanting-to-be-haunted/) [MGMT](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mgmt/) > [“some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-r-r-tolkien/some-things-that-should-not-have-been-forgotten-were-lost-history/) [J.R.R. Tolkien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-r-tolkien/) > [“Languages have complicated family trees, you know—mixed marriages, stepchildren, even bastards. There are countless scandals in the history of languages, many murders, much incest.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-kate/languages-have-complicated-family-trees-you-know-mixed-marriages/) [Lauren Kate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-kate/) > [Man's most intelligent age may have gotten lost in history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-henrik-clarke/man-s-most-intelligent-age-may-have-gotten-lost-in-history/) [John Henrik Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-henrik-clarke/) > [We really invented the genre of tracing family trees and going back as far as we could on the paper trail. When the paper…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-louis-gates/we-really-invented-the-genre-of-tracing-family-trees-and-going-back/) [Henry Louis Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-louis-gates/) ## More by Sebastian Barry > [“As I do not seem able much to heal, then maybe I can simply be a responsible witness to the miracle of the ordinary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-barry/as-i-do-not-seem-able-much-to-heal-then-maybe-i-can-simply-be-a/) [Sebastian Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-barry/) > [“In the darkness as we lie side by side John Cole's left hand snakes over under the sheets and takes a hold of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-barry/in-the-darkness-as-we-lie-side-by-side-john-cole-s-left-hand-snakes/) [Sebastian Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-barry/) > [“His people had hogs there till the bottom fell out of hogs. The bottom was always falling out of something in America far as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-barry/his-people-had-hogs-there-till-the-bottom-fell-out-of-hogs-the-bottom/) [Sebastian Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-barry/) > [“Spring comes into Massachusetts with her famous flame. God’s breath warming the winter out of things”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-barry/spring-comes-into-massachusetts-with-her-famous-flame-god-s-breath/) [Sebastian Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-barry/) > [And whatever my life had been up to that day, it was another life after that. And that is the gospel truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-barry/and-whatever-my-life-had-been-up-to-that-day-it-was-another-life/) [Sebastian Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-barry/) > [“The knives opened the flesh like they were painting paintings of a new country, sheer plains of dark land, with the red rivers bursting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-barry/the-knives-opened-the-flesh-like-they-were-painting-paintings-of-a/) [Sebastian Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-barry/) > [“I suppose therefore God is the connoisseur of filthied hearts and souls, and can see the old, the first pattern in them, and cherish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-barry/i-suppose-therefore-god-is-the-connoisseur-of-filthied-hearts-and/) [Sebastian Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-barry/) > [“There is a craziness in it all that betokens a kind of delicious freedom. Notions are cast off. If only for a moment. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-barry/there-is-a-craziness-in-it-all-that-betokens-a-kind-of-delicious/) [Sebastian Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-barry/) > [He loved telling stories. He had been everywhere in the world. The northwest frontier, the landscape of the Hindu Kush, was one of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-barry/he-loved-telling-stories-he-had-been-everywhere-in-the-world-the/) [Sebastian Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-barry/) > [“Our smiles mostly for each other, and every stranger a possible demon or bear, till they proved otherwise”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-barry/our-smiles-mostly-for-each-other-and-every-stranger-a-possible-demon/) [Sebastian Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-barry/) > [“It is always worth itemizing happiness, there is so much of the other thing in a life, you had better put down the markers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-barry/it-is-always-worth-itemizing-happiness-there-is-so-much-of-the-other/) [Sebastian Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-barry/) > [“I wonder if I were to have an X-ray at the little hospital, would the machine see my grief? Is it like rust, arheum…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-barry/i-wonder-if-i-were-to-have-an-x-ray-at-the-little-hospital-would-the/) [Sebastian Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-barry/) > [“No one says too much and what is said is only light-hearted and bantering because we want to preserve our advantage over fear. Fear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-barry/no-one-says-too-much-and-what-is-said-is-only-light-hearted-and/) [Sebastian Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-barry/) > [“They say we are creatures raised by God above the animals but any man that has lived knows that’s damned lies.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-barry/they-say-we-are-creatures-raised-by-god-above-the-animals-but-any-man/) [Sebastian Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-barry/) > [“There is a moment in the history of every beaten child when his mind parts with hopes of dignity — pushes off hope like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-barry/there-is-a-moment-in-the-history-of-every-beaten-child-when-his-mind/) [Sebastian Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-barry/) [Explore all 125 Sebastian Barry quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-barry/) ## More Anecdotes quotes > [“There was a skill to organizing your life into neatly bundled anecdotes, and he lacked it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-sakey/there-was-a-skill-to-organizing-your-life-into-neatly-bundled/) [Marcus Sakey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-sakey/) > [Art to me is an anecdote of the spirit,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-rothko/art-to-me-is-an-anecdote-of-the-spirit/) [Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-rothko/) > [There comes a point where certain things are becoming my Achilles heel; you know when you start repeating yourself and saying the same anecdotes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-elson/there-comes-a-point-where-certain-things-are-becoming-my-achilles/) [Karen Elson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-elson/) > [Why should I ever get fed up talking about my father? He was a brilliant, colorful man who left us with thousands of memories.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danny-huston/why-should-i-ever-get-fed-up-talking-about-my-father-he-was-a/) [Danny Huston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danny-huston/) > [If you would stick to the concrete, and put your discoveries in the form of entertaining anecdotes about your adventures with women, your conversation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/if-you-would-stick-to-the-concrete-and-put-your-discoveries-in-the/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Painters were also attorneys, happy storytellers of anecdote, psychologists, botanists, zoologists, archaeologists, engineers, but there were no creative painters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kazimir-malevich/painters-were-also-attorneys-happy-storytellers-of-anecdote/) [Kazimir Malevich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kazimir-malevich/) > [Art isn't anecdote. It's the consciousness we bring to bear in our lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cheryl-strayed/art-isn-t-anecdote-it-s-the-consciousness-we-bring-to-bear-in-our/) [Cheryl Strayed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cheryl-strayed/) > [Something about the possession of a book - an object that can contain infinite fables, words of wisdom, chronicles of times gone by, humorous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-manguel/something-about-the-possession-of-a-book-an-object-that-can-contain/) [Alberto Manguel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-manguel/) > [Men grind and grind in the mill of a truism, and nothing comes out but what was put in. But the moment they desert…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/men-grind-and-grind-in-the-mill-of-a-truism-and-nothing-comes-out-but/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Anecdote: The extent of Michael Jackson's fame at its height, and his eagerness to exploit it is shown by an incident in 1984 when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-jackson/anecdote-the-extent-of-michael-jackson-s-fame-at-its-height-and-his/) [Michael Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-jackson/) > [I don't have a lot of thrilling anecdotes about my career or personal life. All the stuff that is interesting is private and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie-merchant/i-don-t-have-a-lot-of-thrilling-anecdotes-about-my-career-or-personal/) [Natalie Merchant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie-merchant/) > [Life divides into amazing enjoyable times and appalling experiences that will make future amazing anecdotes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caitlin-moran/life-divides-into-amazing-enjoyable-times-and-appalling-experiences/) [Caitlin Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caitlin-moran/) > [I write and write and write, and then I edit it down to the parts that I think are amusing, or that help the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-yankovic/i-write-and-write-and-write-and-then-i-edit-it-down-to-the-parts-that/) [Al Yankovic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-yankovic/) > [If you notice phrases, ideas, and anecdotes that closely resemble those that appear elsewhere in my writing, it's not a matter of sloppy editing.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-fulghum/if-you-notice-phrases-ideas-and-anecdotes-that-closely-resemble-those/) [Robert Fulghum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-fulghum/) > [At the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre, Sanford Meisner said, 'When you go into the professional world, at a stock theatre somewhere, backstage, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mamet/at-the-neighborhood-playhouse-school-of-theatre-sanford-meisner-said/) [David Mamet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mamet/) [Browse all 180 Anecdotes quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anecdotes/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is funny, but it strikes me that a person without anecdotes that they nurse while they live, and that survive them, are more likely to be utterly lost not only to history but the family following them. 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