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Memoirs Quotes

Browse 142 quotes about Memoirs.

Memoirs Quotes

“I asked Bill what career path he thought I should take, and he replied, “Live the artist’s life.” For years I pondered over his advice. What did it mean to “live the artist’s life?” I finally came to realize that there were no written codes, no hard and fast rules. You didn’t have to starve in a garret or drink yourself to death or cut off your ear. You didn’t even have to literally “make art” physically. The art was your life—your values, your outlook, your passions, your point of view. It was the things you cherished, whether they were people or places or ideas.”

FamilyFriendsPhotographyKitchenCulinaryBiographyMemoirsCookbookArtsArt Book
Book:The Kitchen and the Studio: A Memoir of Food and Art
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“My mom absolutely LOVED all things English, so it’s not too surprising that she loved English tea parties. When she and I traveled—which was frequently—we often found ourselves in locations (Vancouver, Ottawa, London, Bath, Cardiff, to name a few) where we could take advantage of that lovely English custom of “taking tea.” So, for a special surprise party, I invited a dozen of Mom’s Gainesville friends to “take tea” with us. Even though it was December, it was warm enough to use the screen porch and the deck. That’s the “Florida advantage!”

FamilyFriendsPhotographyKitchenMemoirsCookbookArtsMenuCulinary SkillsLove Of Food
Book:The Kitchen and the Studio: A Memoir of Food and Art
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“Almost every family has their own Christmas traditions (if, indeed, they celebrate Christmas) and we certainly had several. First, the house was thoroughly cleaned and decorated with wreaths and paper chains and, of course, the Christmas tree with all its sparkling lights and ornaments. The cardboard nativity scene had to be carefully assembled and placed on the mantle. And there was the advent wreath with its little windows to be opened each morning. And then there were the Christmas cookies. About a week before the holiday, Mom would bake several batches of the cookies and I invited all my friends to come and help decorate them. It was an “all-afternoon” event. We gathered around our big round dining table with bowls of colored icing and assorted additions—red hot candies, coconut flakes, sugar “glitter,” chocolate chips, and any other little bits we could think of. Then, the decorating began!”

FamilyFriendsPhotographyKitchenCulinaryBiographyMemoirsArtsMenuCulinary Skills
Book:The Kitchen and the Studio: A Memoir of Food and Art
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“So, it wasn’t until I was living in Mexico that I first started enjoying chocolate mousse. See, there was this restaurant called La Lorraine that became a favorite of ours when John and I were living in Mexico City in 1964–65. The restaurant was in a beautiful old colonial period house with a large courtyard, red tile floors, and a big black and white portrait of Charles de Gaulle on the wall. The proprietor was a hefty French woman with grey hair swept up in a bun. She always welcomed us warmly and called us mes enfants, “my children.” Her restaurant was very popular with the folks from the German and French embassies located nearby. She wasn’t too keen on the locals. I think she took to us because I practiced my French on her and you know how the French are about their language! At the end of each evening (yeah, we often closed the joint) madame was usually seated at the table next to the kitchen counting up the evening’s receipts. Across from her at the table sat a large French poodle, wearing a napkin bib and enjoying a bowl of onion soup. Ah, those were the days… Oh, and her mousse au chocolate was to DIE for!”

ImaginationFamilyFriendsBiographyExperiencesTeachingsMemoirsMenuCulinary SkillsLove Of Food
Book:The Kitchen and the Studio: A Memoir of Food and Art
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“If there’s an eighth wonder of the world, I would suggest lavender. Not only is it beautiful to the eye and heavenly to the nose, it also is said to have antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties and research suggests it may be useful in treating anxiety, insomnia, and depression. And it’s a wonderful addition to—ta-da—COOKIES! Mom always kept a large wooden wine barrel filled with lavender next to the back porch so she could grab a handful of lavender flowers whenever the mood struck her. She made lavender sachets to hang in the closets and added lavender to her rose potpourri. We regularly had lavender lemonade or lavender muffins and often some lavender flowers were identifiable in a lamb stew or as a garnish for steaks. All part of our Mediterranean lifestyle.”

ImaginationFamilyTravelCulinaryBiographyExperiencesTeachingsMemoirsMenuCulinary Skills
Author:Mallory M. O'Connor
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“Yes, I’m sure the universe connected us and may do so again when it deems the time is right. Until then, in only a few short hours combined with a set of lovely messages, I have enjoyed something rarely found, a gemstone in the sands of time.”

PassionDesiresEroticaFiction NovelMemoirsSexualErotic FictionErotic LiteratureErotic SuspenseErotic Novel
Book:A Decade of Desire: Erotic Memoirs from The Office Diaries
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“I could simply kill you now, get it over with, who would know the difference? I could easily kick you in, stove you under, for all those times, mean on gin, you rammed words into my belly. (p. 52)”

LoveLifeDeathMotherPoetryHateGriefHealingDyingNew YorkSonPoemConflictLetting GoCancerMemoirGrievingPoemsDeath And DyingDeath Of A Loved OneVersesMountainsAlcoholismSoul SearchingLove And HateDaughtersMemoirsVerseDeath And LoveDeath And SicknessColon CancerDying At HomeGrieving The Loss Of A MotherBarbara BlatnerDeath And SonNew York QuarterlyDeath And DaughtersVerse Memoir
Author:Barbara Blatner
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“oh. she heard it too-no waters coursing, canyon empty, sun soundless- and the beast your life nowhere hiding (p. 103)”

LoveLifeDeathMotherPoetryHateGriefHealingDyingNew YorkSonPoemConflictLetting GoCancerMemoirGrievingPoemsDeath And DyingDeath Of A Loved OneVersesMountainsAlcoholismSoul SearchingLove And HateDaughtersMemoirsVerseDeath And LoveDeath And SicknessColon CancerDying At HomeGrieving The Loss Of A MotherBarbara BlatnerDeath And SonNew York QuarterlyDeath And DaughtersVerse Memoir
Book:The Still Position: A Verse Memoir of My Mother's Death
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“...gripping the rim of the sink you claw your way to stand and cling there, quaking with will, on heron legs, and still the hot muck pours out of you. (p. 27)”

LoveLifeDeathMotherPoetryHateGriefHealingDyingNew YorkSonPoemConflictCancerMemoirGrievingPoemsDeath And DyingDeath Of A Loved OneVersesMountainsAlcoholismDaughtersMemoirsVerseDeath And LoveDeath And SicknessColon CancerDying At HomeGrieving The Loss Of A MotherBarbara BlatnerDeath And SonNew York QuarterlyDeath And DaughtersVerse Memoir
Book:The Still Position: A Verse Memoir of My Mother's Death
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“blue-gold sky, fresh cloud, emerald-black mountain, trees on rocky ledges, on the summit, the tiny pin of a telephone tower-all brilliantly clear, in shadow and out. and on and through everything everywhere the sun shines without reservation (p. 97)”

LoveDeathMotherPoetryHateGriefHealingDyingSonPoemConflictCancerPoemsDeath And DyingDeath Of A Loved OneVersesDaughtersMemoirsVerseDeath And LoveDeath And SicknessColon CancerGrieving The Loss Of A MotherAlchoholismBarbara BlatnerDeath And SonNew York QuarterlyGrievindeath And Daughters
Book:The Still Position: A Verse Memoir of My Mother's Death
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“... then came a period when nothing soothed me ... there was no balm in the festive herbal splendor of my kitchen, no balm in the exhaustive evening showers before and after the Brooklyn Bridge excursion ... the waking hours weighted themselves between my legs, and there was no relief in sight .. I took to the reading of memoirs ... it was one of my finer moments when I discovered that no human life escapes the tribulation of solitude ...”

ReadingSadnessLonelinessSolitudeDepressionMemoirsTribulations
Book:Whatever Happened to Interracial Love?
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“I've also read hundreds of memoirs and spoken with thousands of people about their own singular lives, and I'm here to tell you that each particular life is far more astounding and unpredictable than any of the generalizations scholars and social scientists make about groups of people. If you want to understand humanity, you have to focus on the thoughts and emotions of individuals, not just data about groups.”

LifeStoriesHumanityGroupsLivesMemoirsIndividualsGeneralizations
Book:How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen
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“All forms of writing are an act of conception; writing must lead to creation. Each time that we write, we begin again. Writing is an act of self-affirmation. Each time that we place our thoughts onto paper, we receive a new opportunity to claim our reality. Writing is also an act of explication and deconstruction. Writing empowers us to shape and modify our fiery constitutions. Writing allows us to explore the essential ingredients that lead to a life of serenity by exhibiting compassion, love, patience, generosity, and forgiveness.”

WritingMemoriesCompassionSelf ImprovementForgivenessPatienceSelf DiscoveryMemoirSelf RealizationGenerosityWritersSelf AcceptanceSerenitySelf KnowledgeWriters On WritingWriting LifeKnow ThyselfMemoirsSelf Awareness QuotesSelf KnowingWriting MemoirPersonal IdentitySelf Knowledge QuotesSelf Acceptance QuotesSelf AffirmationSelf Aw
Book:Dead Toad Scrolls
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“Art, mythology, religion, philosophy, history, anthropology, science, and medicine along with literature, autobiographies, biographies, essays, memoirs, poetry, and other works of fiction and nonfiction serve as a vast library for us to scour in search of the hidden keys to attaining knowledge and happiness. We glimpse individual revelation along with selective rays of radiance from every person’s conscientious act of documenting their long-term commitment to achieving a gleaming living testament to enlightenment.”

ArtPhilosophyPoetryLiteratureMythologyBiographiesEssaysAnthropologyMemoirsAutobiographies
Book:Dead Toad Scrolls
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“A shaman and a writer each serve as their communities’ seers by engaging in extraordinary acts of conscientious study of the past and the present and predicting the future. An inner voice calls to the shaman and an essayistic writer to answer the call that vexes the pernicious spirit of their times. Shamanistic writers induce a trance state of mind where they lose contact with physical reality through a rational disordering of the senses, in an effort to encounter for the umpteenth time the great unknown and the unutterable truths that structure existence. An afflicted person seeking clarification of existence cannot ignore the shamanistic calling of narrative exposition. Thus, I shall continue this longwinded howl – making a personal immortality vessel – into the darkness of night forevermore.”

WritingSelf DiscoveryMemoirStorytellingNarrativeWritersAutobiographyWriters On WritingWriting ProcessEssaysWriting LifeJourney Of LifeMemoir WritingLife StoryImmoralityStory Of My LifeWriting PhilosophyMemoirsShamanismStorytellersWriters On ThinkingPersonal EssaysEssayistJourney Of Self DiscoveryStory Of Your LifeShamanNarrativesEssay WritingStory Of LifeNarrative WritingWriters On Writing BooksWriters VoiceStory Of A SoulShamanic JourneyingShamansJourney Of BecomingShamanism HealingImmortality Of The SoulJourney Of The SoulNarrative IdentityShamanic HealingShamanicJourney Of FaithJourney Of Your LifeImmorality Quotes
Book:Dead Toad Scrolls
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“Writing is an exhausting and demoralizing task that destroys human conceits. Writing an elongated series of personal essay opens a person’s mind to explore paradoxes and discover previously unrealized personal truths. Writing is as arduous as any trek into the wilderness. Every sentence takes a writer deeper into the jungle of the mind, a world of frightening inconsistencies created by our waking life’s desire that the world of chaos conform to our convenience.”

WritingSelf AwarenessChaosSentencesSelf DiscoveryMemoirWritersSelf KnowledgeAutobiographyWriters On WritingEssaysKnow ThyselfMemoir WritingSelf ActualizationEssayMemoirsSelf Awareness QuotesWriters On ThinkingSelf KnowingWriting MemoirPersonal EssaysEssayistJourney Of Self DiscoverySelf Knowledge QuotesSelf Discovery QuotesEssay WritingSelf AwareSentenceWriters On Writing LifePersonal EssayWriters On Writing BooksSelf AwakeningJourney Of The Mind
Book:Dead Toad Scrolls
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“Storytelling creates a healing serum. The thematic unguent of our personal story represents a fusion of the ineffable truths that each of us must discover within ourselves.”

StoriesSelf AwarenessSelf DiscoveryMemoirSelf RealizationStorytellingWriters On WritingWriting ProcessEssaysWriters QuotesMemoir WritingStory Of My LifeWriting PhilosophyMemoirsStorytellersWriters On ThinkingEssayistSelf Discovery QuotesStory Of Your LifeStory Of LifeStory TellingPersonal StoryStories Of PeopleStory Of A SoulStories From The Heart
Book:Dead Toad Scrolls
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“Life is an ongoing journey where the intrepid traveler explores as many tributaries in the river of life as possible. Living consists of probing for the headwaters leading to shimmering effervescence, which exploratory promises to explain the contours in a person’s passage. We each seek to map the miles logged alongside the muddy embankment that spawns our origin, annals our journey, and cradles our crypts. A hearty and weary traveler alike registers, indexes, interprets, and reinterprets their interweaved encounters with a world suffused with good and evil, imbued with love and hate, saturated with greed and evil, laced with acts of unbelievable tenderness, and consecrated with the lifeblood of our ancestors.”

Life PhilosophySelf DiscoveryWriters On WritingWriting ProcessJourney Of LifeMemoir WritingWriting PhilosophyMemoirsEssayistVision Quest
Book:Dead Toad Scrolls
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“Recounting the narrative of our personal story in a methodical and chronological manner helps us see our life in a historical perspective. Telling our personal stories allows us to bring hibernated memories out of seclusion. Reexamination of our historical existence under the light of growing conscious awareness assist us make psychological breakthroughs. Analyzing the elemental substance of our personal story from a sundry of viewpoints employing techniques of literature, philosophy, logical reasoning, and abstract thinking assist us perceive our discrete chronicle in symbolic terms and in mythological context.”

WritingMemoriesSelf DiscoveryMemoirStorytellingNarrativeWritersWriters On WritingWriting ProcessWriting QuotesNon FictionWriters QuotesMemoir WritingStory Of My LifeMemoirsSelf Discovery QuotesStory Of Your LifeSelf ExaminationSelf ExplorationPersonal StoryNarrative WritingNon Fiction Books
Book:Dead Toad Scrolls
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“I am often described to my irritation as a 'contrarian' and even had the title inflicted on me by the publisher of one of my early books. (At least on that occasion I lived up to the title by ridiculing the word in my introduction to the book's first chapter.) It is actually a pity that our culture doesn't have a good vernacular word for an oppositionist or even for someone who tries to do his own thinking: the word 'dissident' can't be self-conferred because it is really a title of honor that has to be won or earned, while terms like 'gadfly' or 'maverick' are somehow trivial and condescending as well as over-full of self-regard. And I've lost count of the number of memoirs by old comrades or ex-comrades that have titles like 'Against the Stream,' 'Against the Current,' 'Minority of One,' 'Breaking Ranks' and so forth—all of them lending point to Harold Rosenberg's withering remark about 'the herd of independent minds.' Even when I was quite young I disliked being called a 'rebel': it seemed to make the patronizing suggestion that 'questioning authority' was part of a 'phase' through which I would naturally go. On the contrary, I was a relatively well-behaved and well-mannered boy, and chose my battles with some deliberation rather than just thinking with my hormones.”

YouthAuthorityIndependenceWordsRebellionDissentHormonesMemoirsDissidentsFree ThoughtContrarianismHonorificsHarold RosenbergOppositionism
Book:Hitch 22: A Memoir
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“Sister, why do you do that?" "Do what?" "Cage the animals at night?" "Well..." She looked up and out through the barred window before answering me."We don't want to, Jennings, but we have to. You see, the animals that are given to us we have to take care of. If we didn't cage them up in one place, we might lose them, they might get hurt or damaged. It's not the best thing, but it's the only way we have to take care of them." "But if somebody loved one them," I asked, "wouldn't it be a good idea to let them have one? To keep, I mean?" "Yes, it would be. But not everyone would love them and take care of them as you would. I wish I could give them all away tomorrow." She looked at me. There were tears in her eyes. "But I can't. My heart would break if I saw just one of those animals lying by the wayside uncared for, unloved. No, Jennings. It's better if we keep them together.”

FamilyYouthNeglectNunMemoirsRunawayConfinementFoster CareStuffed Animals
Book:They Cage the Animals at Night: The True Story of an Abandoned Child's Struggle for Emotional Survival
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