Louise Erdrich Quotes

My husband is stricken with dementia, and it's a trick of his condition that events and people from his past are more real to him than what happened five minutes ago.

When you become senile, you won't know it.

My grandfather said, "When you become senile, you won't know it."

A lot of people have dementia, which is great, because then they don't recognize me.

For the last year his grandma had been slipping in and out of reality. One minute she was as clear as a bell and the next she was calling him Simon. Who was Simon? He had no idea.

When you deal with a person who's experiencing dementia, you can see where they're struggling with knowledge. You can see what they forget completely, what they forget but they know what they once knew. You can tell how they're trying to remember.

None of us wants to be reminded that dementia is random, relentless, and frighteningly common.

But I'm not as bad as Al Pacino - he doesn't even know what month it is half the time when he's working.

You know, I have found a new way to get high and stay spaced out for hours on end, and the government can't stop me... It's called senility.

When you're 89, dementia develops. I mean, I've told a story onstage, and I'm telling it with a full heart, and I forgot the damn punch line.

My grandfather had Alzheimer's. He would eat everything and anything that was around; then he wouldn't remember that he ate it and would demand to be fed again.

You have to begin to lose your memory, if only in bits and pieces, to realize that memory is what makes our lives. Life without memory is no life at all... Our memory is our coherence, our reason, our feeling, even our action. Without it we are nothing.

That's the trouble with losing your mind; by the time it's gone, it's too late to get it back.

Hey, if you can't remember, don't worry about it. I'm having a few memory problems myself in this place. Little things like how long I've been here, what my purpose in life is, which feet to put my shoes on. Stuff like that.

I must admit I am nervous about getting Alzheimer's. Once it hits, I might tell my best joke and never know it.

Dementia was like a truth serum.

As you get older; you've probably noticed that you tend to forget things. You'll be talking with somebody at a party, and you'll know that you know this person, but no matter how hard you try, you can't remember his or her name. This can be very embarassing, especially if he or she turns out to be your spouse.

My faculties are decaying now and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that never happened.

You know, as you get older, the first thing you lose is memory. It seems to be happening with me.

My father started growing very quiet as Alzheimer's started claiming more of him. The early stages of Alzheimer's are the hardest because that person is aware that they're losing awareness. And I think that that's why my father started growing more and more quiet. I think he felt, 'I don't want to say something wrong.' That's my sense of it.

Can I remember exactly when I 'lost' my husband? Was it the moment when I had to start tying his shoelaces for him? Or when we stopped being able to laugh with each other? Looking back, that turning point is impossible to pinpoint. But then, that's the nature of dementia.

My memory's pretty much gone.

My father started growing very quiet as Alzheimer's started claiming more of him. The early stages of Alzheimer's are the hardest because that person is aware that they're losing awareness. And I think that that's why my father started growing more and more quiet.

I have lost my mental faculties but am perfectly well.

Charlton Heston announced again today that he is suffering from Alzheimer's.