Some loss of memory with aging is natural. Forgetting a person's name or misplacing a set of car keys can happen often. However, forgetting how to get back home or where you live could be early signs of a more serious health problem.
Here are five famous quotes about being forgetful:
1. "The advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys several times the same good things for the first time." — 19th Century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
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2. "As you get older three things happen. The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two." — 20th Century British comedian Sir Norman Wisdom.
3. "Yes, forgetting can be a curse, especially as we age. But forgetting is also one of the more important things healthy brains do, almost as important as remembering. Think how quickly the sheer volume and multiplicity of sensory information we receive every waking minute would overwhelm our consciousness if we couldn’t quickly forget a great deal more of it than we remember." — U.S. author Michael Pollan in his 2001 book, "The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World."
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4. "A man must get a thing before he can forget it." — 19th Century U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
5. "Forgetfulness is necessary to remembrance. Ideas are retained by renovation of that impression which time is always wearing away, and which new images are striving to obliterate. If useless thoughts could be expelled from the mind, all the valuable parts of our knowledge would more frequently recur, and every recurrence would reinstate them in their former place." — 18th Century English author Samuel Johnson.
This article is for information only and is not intended as medical advice. Talk with your doctor about your specific health and medical needs.
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