
History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.
– Julian Barnes
Related Quotes:
- …I need to return briefly to a few incidents that have grown into anecdotes, to some approximate memories which time has deformed into certainty. – Julian Barnes
- History isn’t what happened, history is just what historians tell us. – Julian Barnes
- The worst tragedy of sin isn’t that it produced bad behavior, but that it produced the idea that bad behavior is strong enough to deflect love. – DR Silva
- Just as Adam produced Woman without a woman, the Virgin produced the Second Adam without a man. – Atom Tate
- He didn’t really like travel, of course. He liked the idea of travel, and the memory of travel, but not travel itself. – Julian Barnes
- Was this their exact exchange? Almost certainly not. Still, it is my best memory of their exchange. – Julian Barnes
- But I don’t remember. I won’t remember. Memory is an act of will, and so is forgetting. – Julian Barnes
- Art is the whisper of history, heard above the noise of time. – Julian Barnes
- Art is the whisper of history, heard above the noise of time. Art does not exist for art’s sake: it exists for people’s sake. – Julian Barnes
- Don’t let your imperfections conveniently excuse you from having discipline. Have the courage to work through your imperfections. – Matthew Donnelly
- My favorite thing to do is watch her sleep, when she’s at total ease, not stressing about her imperfections -” imperfections I find perfect. – Nancee Cain
- Primary purposes of a mirror: (1) To help civilized men realize their imperfections, and, (2) To help the imperfect hide their imperfections. – Mokokoma Mokhonoana
- Beauty is more a danger than intelligence or wit. One becomes a living mirror for the inadequacies of others. – Gordon Dahlquist
- Our children cannot be assumed to follow in our footsteps, assuage our losses, or compensate for our inadequacies. – Madeline Levine
- Most of the mistakes in thinking are inadequacies of perception rather than mistakes of logic. – Edward de Bono
- The scientist believes in proof without certainty, the bigot in certainty without proof. – Ashley Montagu
- Despair is a form of certainty, certainty that the future will be a lot like the present or will decline from it. – Rebecca Solnit
- I act with complete certainty. But this certainty is my own. – Ludwig Wittgenstein
- The written word is the greatest sacred documentation. – Lailah Gifty Akita
- The written word is greatest sacred documentation. – Lailah Gifty Akita
- Whoever can survive the stress involved in every institutional/documentation process, etc in Nigeria can survive anywhere. – OMOSOHWOFA CASEY
- In an age of infinite digital documentation, paper was the last safe place for secrets. – Evan Angler
- Reading is a majority skill but a minority art. – Julian Barnes
- Pride makes us long for a solution to things -“ a solution, a purpose, a final cause; but the better telescopes become, the more stars appear. – Julian Barnes
- Most people, in my opinion, steal much of what they are. If they didn’t what poor items they would be. – Julian Barnes
- The greatest patriotism is to tell your country when it is behaving dishonorably, foolishly, viciously. – Julian Barnes
- The best form of government is one that is dying, because that means it’s giving way to something else. – Julian Barnes
- Music escapes from words: that is its purpose, and its majesty. – Julian Barnes
- You can deal with the brain, as I say; it looks sensible, whereas the heart, the human heart, I’m afraid, looks a ????ing mess. – Julian Barnes
- Love is just a system for getting someone to call you Darling after sex. – Julian Barnes
- you find yourself repeating, -˜They grow up so quickly, don’t they?’ when all you really mean is: time goes faster for me nowadays. – Julian Barnes
- Of course, there were other sorts of literature — theoretical, self-referencial, lachrymosely autobiographical — but they were just dry wanks. – Julian Barnes
- The final tormenting, unanswerable question: what is ‘success’ in mourning? – Julian Barnes
- wear flannel next to your skin, and never believe in eternal punishment. – Julian Barnes
- Opera cuts to the chase-”as death does. An art which seeks, more obviously than any other form, to break your heart. – Julian Barnes
- May you be ordinary, as the poet once wished the new-born baby. – Julian Barnes
- But life never lets you go, does it? You can’t put down life the way you put down a book. – Julian Barnes
- ..books look as if they contain knowledge, while e-readers look as if they contain information. – Julian Barnes
- Irony – The modern mode: either the devil’s mark or the snorkel of sanity. – Julian Barnes
- Time…give us enough time and our best-supported decisions will seem wobbly, our certainties whimsical. – Julian Barnes