“I have now forgotten all my mathematics and arithmetic, all my Greek, and almost all my Latin; but I cleave to those who were true nurses of my boyhood still.”

Valuing formative books and storytellers above forgotten instruction · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter III (published posthumously, 1877)

• Art
• Childhood
• Memory

“We love or pity individuals, not multitudes, and we cannot, if we would, forget them.”

Locating lasting compassion in the recognition of individual lives · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter III (published posthumously, 1877)

• Compassion
• Love
• Memory

“Never let us forget the past—the wise past, that has fed us, and taught us, and rendered us what we are. Rather, kneel down and thank the rich and faded centuries, that have left such jewels behind them.”

Urging gratitude for the intellectual inheritance of earlier ages · Preface to Recollections of Men of Letters (published 1877)

• Art
• Memory
• Time

“She it was who first taught me to know him and to love him, and led eventually to my wondering admiration for the greatest genius that the world has ever produced.”

Remembering the person who awakened his lifelong love of Shakespeare · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter II, on Shakespeare (published posthumously, 1877)

• Art
• Childhood
• Memory

“I scarcely know why I recall these things, which have been undisturbed in my recollection for more than half a century.”

Reflecting on the mysterious persistence of memory · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter I (published posthumously, 1877)

• Memory
• Time

“Never let me forget him, his patience, or his kindness.”

Preserving gratitude for a gentle teacher · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter I (published posthumously, 1877)

• Kindness
• Memory

“Matters of infinitely greater importance have long since faded away and been forgotten, but the pictures and characters of these men, after the lapse of seventy years, remain vivid and clear.”

Showing how human character can outlast supposedly greater events · Autobiographical fragment, Chapter I (published posthumously, 1877)

• Memory
• Time