What are memories?

Famous quotes containing the word memories:

“It seems to me that I have always existed and that I possess memories that date back to the Pharaohs.”
—Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880)

“Obviously the facts are never just coming at you but are incorporated by an imagination that is formed by your previous experience. Memories of the past are not memories of facts but memories of your imaginings of the facts.”
—Philip Roth (b. 1933)

“Meanwhile, the men, with vestiges of pomp,
Race memories of king and caravan,
High-priests, an ostrich, and a juju-man,
Go singing through the footpaths of the swamp.”
—Jean Toomer (1894–1967)