--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Some people, I am told, have memories…" description: "\"“Some people, I am told, have memories like computers, nothing to do but punch the button and wait for the print-out. Mine is more like a Japanese libr..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/540/wallace-stegner-1352_computers_some-people-i-am-told-have-memories-like_93456.jpg" --- # Some people, I am told, have memories like computers… ![“Some people, I am told, have memories like computers, nothing to do but punch the button and wait for the print-out. Mine is more like a Japanese library of the old style, without a card file or an indexing system or any systematic shelf plan. Nobody knows where anything is except the old geezer…” quote by Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/540/wallace-stegner-1352_computers_some-people-i-am-told-have-memories-like_93456.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/540/wallace-stegner-1352_computers_some-people-i-am-told-have-memories-like_93456.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/540/wallace-stegner-1352_computers_some-people-i-am-told-have-memories-like_93456.jpg) > ““Some people, I am told, have memories like computers, nothing to do but punch the button and wait for the print-out. Mine is more like a Japanese library of the old style, without a card file or an indexing system or any systematic shelf plan. Nobody knows where anything is except the old geezer in felt slippers who has been shuffling up and down those stacks for sixty-nine years. When you hand him a problem he doesn't come back with a cartful and dump it before you, a jackpot of instant retrieval. He finds one thing, which reminds him of another, which leads him off to the annex, which directs him to the east wing, which sends him back two tiers from where he started. Bit by bit he finds you what you want, but like his boss who seems to be under pressure to examine his life, he takes his time.”” [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) ## 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 chaotic, unindexed archive where retrieval is indirect, time‑consuming, and mediated by a quirky caretaker. **In simple terms:** Memory as labyrinthine archive Key Takeaway Information retrieval can be messy Themes memory organization chaos storytelling age Mood reflective nostalgic wry Type literary aphoristic When to use this quote - research troubleshooting - personal recollection - library management Key Concepts archival metaphor human cognition Practical Applications - designing better search systems - writing memoirs Questions to Reflect On - How does this metaphor affect our view of knowledge? - What role does the caretaker play in shaping what we find? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Computers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/computers/) [Knows Old](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows-old-1135579/) [Like Computers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/like-computers-1154367/) [Memories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memories/) [Memories Like](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memories-like-471968/) [Memory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memory/) [Nobody knows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nobody-knows/) [Old Style](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-style/) [Told Memories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/told-memories-1154366/) ## Related quotes > [The world is shaped by two things — stories told and the memories they leave behind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-nazarian/the-world-is-shaped-by-two-things-stories-told-and-the-memories-they/) [Vera Nazarian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-nazarian/) > [I tell the story to you now, but in each telling the story itself changes a little, changes direction, and that in turn changes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-nazarian/i-tell-the-story-to-you-now-but-in-each-telling-the-story-itself/) [Vera Nazarian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-nazarian/) > [No one on this Earth knows how old I am.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/no-one-on-this-earth-knows-how-old-i-am/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Un asno viejo sabe mas que un potro. (An old ass knows more than an old colt.)-A Wrinkle in Time”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/un-asno-viejo-sabe-mas-que-un-potro-an-old-ass-knows-more-than-an-old/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“You see when a man knows he will be old, he is afraid: when he becomes old, he cares for nothing—love does not count,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-stead/you-see-when-a-man-knows-he-will-be-old-he-is-afraid-when-he-becomes/) [Christina Stead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-stead/) > [One never knows when one is old for certain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/enid-bagnold/one-never-knows-when-one-is-old-for-certain/) [Enid Bagnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/enid-bagnold/) > [My Body Knows How Old I am But My Mind Refuses To Believe It...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/my-body-knows-how-old-i-am-but-my-mind-refuses-to-believe-it/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Oh, my God. I've just told you how old I am. Nobody knows how old I am. I'm going to have to kill you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rita-rudner/oh-my-god-i-ve-just-told-you-how-old-i-am-nobody-knows-how-old-i-am-i/) [Rita Rudner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rita-rudner/) > [I don't like computers. I still like to do my drawings by hand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dieter-rams/i-don-t-like-computers-i-still-like-to-do-my-drawings-by-hand/) [Dieter Rams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dieter-rams/) > [It always helps to be a good programmer. It is important to like computers and to be able to think of things people would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-budge/it-always-helps-to-be-a-good-programmer-it-is-important-to-like/) [Bill Budge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-budge/) > [I like computers. I like the Internet. It's a tool that can be used. But don't be misled into thinking that these technologies are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-brown/i-like-computers-i-like-the-internet-it-s-a-tool-that-can-be-used-but/) [Jerry Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-brown/) > [I like computers. It's the first time that I am endorsing a computer brand. I am very computer savvy, so this is certainly up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-vaughan/i-like-computers-it-s-the-first-time-that-i-am-endorsing-a-computer/) [Bill Vaughan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-vaughan/) > [“Our brains work like computers: They input data and process it in accordance with their wiring and programming. Any opinion you have is made…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-dalio/our-brains-work-like-computers-they-input-data-and-process-it-in/) [Ray Dalio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-dalio/) > [The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sydney-j-harris/the-real-danger-is-not-that-computers-will-begin-to-think-like-men/) [Sydney J. Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sydney-j-harris/) > [I like computers as a tool. I like them as an instrument. I think they're just pretty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dallas-roberts/i-like-computers-as-a-tool-i-like-them-as-an-instrument-i-think-they/) [Dallas Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dallas-roberts/) ## More by Wallace Stegner > [“I have to blame myself for not finding any way of reaching him, but I can't feel that either Ruth or I had anything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/i-have-to-blame-myself-for-not-finding-any-way-of-reaching-him-but-i/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [No life goes past so swiftly as an eventless one, no clock spins like a clock whose days are all alike.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/no-life-goes-past-so-swiftly-as-an-eventless-one-no-clock-spins-like/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“within yourself, you became a grave for her as you were a grave for Chet, and you carried your dead unquietly within you. —”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/within-yourself-you-became-a-grave-for-her-as-you-were-a-grave-for/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [Towns are like people. Old ones often have character, the new ones are interchangeable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/towns-are-like-people-old-ones-often-have-character-the-new-ones-are/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [By his very profession, a serious fiction writer is a vendor of the sensuous particulars of life, a perceiver and handler of things. His…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/by-his-very-profession-a-serious-fiction-writer-is-a-vendor-of-the/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“The creative writer is compulsively concrete . . . . His fictional house should be haunted by ideas, not inhabited by them; they should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/the-creative-writer-is-compulsively-concrete-his-fictional-house/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [Hard writing makes easy reading.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/hard-writing-makes-easy-reading/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [You married me...but you didn't marry what you could make out of me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/you-married-me-but-you-didn-t-marry-what-you-could-make-out-of-me/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [Wisdom. . .is knowing what you have to accept.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/wisdom-is-knowing-what-you-have-to-accept/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“His mouth is full of ecology, his mind is full of fumes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/his-mouth-is-full-of-ecology-his-mind-is-full-of-fumes/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [I gave my heart to the mountains the minute I stood beside this river with its spray in my face and watched it thunder…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/i-gave-my-heart-to-the-mountains-the-minute-i-stood-beside-this-river/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“Poetry ought to be a by-product of living, and you can't have a by-product unless you've got a product first .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/poetry-ought-to-be-a-by-product-of-living-and-you-can-t-have-a-by/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed; if we permit the last…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/something-will-have-gone-out-of-us-as-a-people-if-we-ever-let-the/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [ “\[Y\]ou were too alert to the figurative possibilities of words not to see the phrase \[angle of repose\] as descriptive of human as well… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/y-ou-were-too-alert-to-the-figurative-possibilities-of-words-not-to/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“What should one do? If Ruth had any better luck with him I would have thought that he simply had to attach himself to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/what-should-one-do-if-ruth-had-any-better-luck-with-him-i-would-have/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) [Explore all 251 Wallace Stegner quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) ## More Computers quotes > [I don't understand why we're all connected wirelessly via a little machine that goes in our pocket, to everybody in the world, and you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-m-chu/i-don-t-understand-why-we-re-all-connected-wirelessly-via-a-little/) [Jon M. Chu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-m-chu/) > [“Probably it goes without saying, but time machine guys don't get a lot of action. Had a one night stand with something cute a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/probably-it-goes-without-saying-but-time-machine-guys-don-t-get-a-lot/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [The time that one gains cannot be accumulated in a storehouse; it is contradictory to want to save up existence, which, the fact is,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/the-time-that-one-gains-cannot-be-accumulated-in-a-storehouse-it-is/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [Issac:"I dislike living in a world without Augustus Waters." Computer: "I don't understand-" Issac: "Me neither. Pause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/issac-i-dislike-living-in-a-world-without-augustus-waters-computer-i/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“Note found in the patron suggestion box: "You have SIGNS up near the computers that say BE QUIET, but people don't be quiet. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gina-sheridan/note-found-in-the-patron-suggestion-box-you-have-signs-up-near-the/) [Gina Sheridan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gina-sheridan/) > [“You weren't born to be a cog in the giant industrial machine. You were trained to become a cog. There's an alternative available to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-godin/you-weren-t-born-to-be-a-cog-in-the-giant-industrial-machine-you-were/) [Seth Godin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-godin/) > [If you stood me in a costume next to a computer graphic of the same-looking character, I think there would be a difference. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warwick-davis/if-you-stood-me-in-a-costume-next-to-a-computer-graphic-of-the-same/) [Warwick Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warwick-davis/) > [The corporate state is an immensely powerful machine, ordered, legalistic, rational, yet utterly out of human control, wholly and perfectly indifferent to any human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-reich/the-corporate-state-is-an-immensely-powerful-machine-ordered/) [Charles A. Reich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-reich/) > [The display is the computer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jen-hsun-huang/the-display-is-the-computer/) [Jen-Hsun Huang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jen-hsun-huang/) > [The popular mind often pictures gigantic flying machines speeding across the Atlantic carrying innumerable passengers in a way analogous to our modern steam ships.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-henry-pickering/the-popular-mind-often-pictures-gigantic-flying-machines-speeding/) [William Henry Pickering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-henry-pickering/) > [“Alan Turing proposed the Turing Test: a computer is intelligent if you can't tell it from a human when you talk with it. No…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cjs-hayward/alan-turing-proposed-the-turing-test-a-computer-is-intelligent-if-you/) [CJS Hayward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cjs-hayward/) > [Computers can be taught that certain tune or certain chords changes will sound pleasant together, but I don't think it's going to reach a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bonobo/computers-can-be-taught-that-certain-tune-or-certain-chords-changes/) [Bonobo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bonobo/) > [Can you imagine any better example of divine creative accomplishment that the consummate flying machine that is a bird? The skeleton, very flexible and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-murchie/can-you-imagine-any-better-example-of-divine-creative-accomplishment/) [Guy Murchie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-murchie/) > [“According to this model, human beings are, at least in one aspect, sensation-receiving machines; and although our receptory apparatus is competent to select and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cruce-stark/according-to-this-model-human-beings-are-at-least-in-one-aspect/) [Cruce Stark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cruce-stark/) > [As in any machine, all the wires must be connected to the mains through one main wire. In the same way, you all must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nirmala-srivastava/as-in-any-machine-all-the-wires-must-be-connected-to-the-mains/) [Nirmala Srivastava](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nirmala-srivastava/) [Browse all 9,389 Computers quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/computers/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Some people, I am told, have memories like computers, nothing to do but punch the button and wait for the print-out. Mine is more like a Japanese library of the old style, without a card file or an indexing system or any systematic shelf plan. Nobody knows where anything is except the old geezer in felt slippers who has been shuffling up and down those stacks for sixty-nine years. When you hand him a problem he doesn't come back with a cartful and dump it before you, a jackpot of instant retrieval. He finds one thing, which reminds him of another, which leads him off to the annex, which directs him to the east wing, which sends him back two tiers from where he started. 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