I think it's foolish to think that if you've done something for so long, you can kind of delete it out of your memory bank or delete every emotion attached to it. I knew when I retired what that meant.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
You know that feeling when you finish a final exam and you think, 'I never want to do that again'? Well I have the same feeling when I finish a novel. Each time I say, 'I think I may retire now' and then after six months the ideas start to churn again. I could never stop.
This kind of forgetting does not erase memory, it lays the emotion surrounding the memory to rest.
I get emotional when young people get nostalgic about my work. That's why it's called nostalgia. Sometimes I even cry.
It would be sad if my best work had been 20 years ago and now I only had memories.
So much of what we do is ephemeral and quickly forgotten, even by ourselves, so it's gratifying to have something you have done linger in people's memories.
It brings me no joy and not enough comfort to dwell too much on things I've said or written or made or worn in the past.
Unless you're very boring, I think most people who've lived long enough have something in their past which will never go away.
The function of memory is not only to preserve, but also to throw away. If you remembered everything from your entire life, you would be sick.
Years of happiness can be lost in the foolish gratification of a momentary desire for pleasure.
At the end of the day you have to keep emotions away.