Elbert Hubbard Quotes

A good memory is one trained to forget the trivial.

To forgive is wisdom, to forget is genius.

Let the past be content with itself, for man needs forgetfulness as well as memory.

I forget a book as soon as I finish writing it, which is not always a good thing.

Measure your mind's height by the shade it casts.

The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.

A good memory is surely a compost heap that converts experience to wisdom, creativity, or dottiness; not that these things are of much earthly value, but at least they may keep you amused when the world is keeping you locked away or shutting you out.

Forget whatever should be forgotten, so that you can remember what should be remembered

I like people who have the capacity to forget. I think that to forget is a good thing. Forgetting is good. But sometimes I cannot. For me, I cannot.

Selective amnesia is a good thing to have. So is good focus.

The whole point is, we can forget. It’s important that we forget some things. Otherwise we’d go round the world carrying a hodload of stuff we just don’t need.

How could you cleanse yourself if you couldn’t forget?

Not the power to remember, but its very opposite, the power to forget, is a necessary condition for our existence.

To forgive and forget means to throw away dearly bought experience.

Life cannot go on without much forgetting.

Memory is the greatest of artists, and effaces from your mind what is unnecessary.

Better than the strength of men and horses is our wisdom.

I have a memory like an elephant. I remember every elephant I've ever met.

Observation is an old man's memory.

I should remember more, and I have a pretty good memory.

I don't live in the past at all; I'm always wanting to do something new. I make a point of constantly trying to forget and get things out of my mind.

I can well imagine that certain writers, even writers that we'd consider today very great writers, may not necessarily have tested highly on IQ just because of their numerical skills, or maybe they may not be very good at memory, and are not particularly good at these kinds of tests.

Remember only the good, the bad will never forget you.

Memory is not wisdom; idiots can by rote repeat volumes. Yet what is wisdom without memory?

No great intellectual thing was ever done by great effort.