43 Best Unforgettable Memories Quotes: Everything Comes and Goes, But Memories Never Fade

When it comes to the way we create memories, our minds are truly mysterious. Even vague memories can be oddly hard to forget, like when the smell of laundry takes us back to our childhoods. These unforgettable memories quotes will reveal why we can’t seem to shake some memories off, whether they’re delightful, bittersweet, or heartbreaking.

Because, as we all know, unforgettable memories aren’t always pleasant. In fact, some of my most unshakable memories are decidedly alarming for no apparent reason. For example, the memory of the first recurring nightmare I had as a child sticks with me to this day, even though I’ve forgotten most of my other dreams.

I am sure that I’m not the only one who wants to know why some memories are so unshakeable. After all, most people unknowingly alter their memories to fit their internal narratives. The fact that these versions of the past stay with us is pretty impressive. So what do our unforgettable memories say about us? Let’s find out.

43 Unforgettable Memories Quotes to Read When You Want to Reflect on the Past

Unforgettable Memories Quotes on the Importance of Familiar Sensations

#1. “What we remember from childhood, we remember forever — permanent ghosts, stamped, inked, imprinted, eternally seen.” — Cynthia Ozick

#2. “Childhood is what anyone wants to remember. It leaves behind no fossils, except perhaps in fiction.” — Carol Shields

#3. “Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary, and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains; another, a moonlit beach; a third, a family dinner of pot roast and sweet potatoes during a myrtle-mad August in a Midwestern town. Smells detonate softly in our memory like poignant land mines hidden under the weedy mass of years. Hit a tripwire of smell, and memories explode all at once. A complex vision leaps out of the undergrowth.” — Diane Ackerman

#4. “Nothing brings to life again a forgotten memory like a fragrance.” — Christopher Poindexter

#5. “Two things make the women unforgettable — their tears and their perfume.” — Sacha Guitry

Unforgettable Memories Quotes About Epic Adventures and Romances

#6. “A beautiful life is a collection of unforgettable moments.” — Unknown

#7. “The best memories begin with the most insane ideas.” — Unknown

#8. “Good times + crazy friends = unforgettable memories.” — Unknown

#9. “Parties are supposed to be unforgettable. No one looks back on their life and remembers the nights they got plenty of sleep.” — Ryan Brü

#10. “So long as the memory of certain beloved friends lives in my heart, I shall say that life is good.” — Helen Keller

#11. “Good times come and go, but the memories will last forever.” — Unknown

#12. “I can mention many moments that were unforgettable and revelatory. But the most single revelatory three minutes was the first time I put on scuba gear and dived on a coral reef. It’s just the unbelievable fact that you can move in three dimensions.” — David Attenborough

#13. “I love those random unforgettable memories that make me smile no matter what’s going on in my life right now.” — Unknown

#14. “All she ever wanted was unpredictable kisses and unforgettable laughter.” — Brandon Villasenor

Unforgettable Memories Quotes About Bittersweet Moments

#15. “Recalling days of sadness, memories haunt me. Recalling days of happiness, I haunt my memories.” — Robert Brault

#16. “Memories are what warms you up from the inside. But they’re also what tears you apart.” — Haruki Murakami

#17. “That’s the thing about memories; you can’t forget them.” — Lex Luthor, Smallville

#18. “You never realize what a good memory you have until you try to forget something.” — Franklin P. Jones

#19. “Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it.” — Michel de Montaigne

#20. “Memories, all those little experiences make up the fabric of our lives and on balance, I wouldn’t want to erase any of them, tempting though it may be.” — Ben Affleck

#21. “When we lose one we love, our bitterest tears are called forth by the memory of hours when we loved not enough.” — Maurice Maeterlinck

#22. “For some, life lasts a short while, but the memories it holds last forever.” — Laura Swenson

#23. “He who has gone, so we but cherish his memory, abides with us, more potent, nay, more present than the living man.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

#24. “There’ll always be unforgettable memories behind your goodbyes.” — Unknown

#25. “The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.” — Lois Lowry

#26. “To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” — Thomas Campbell

#27. “Some memories live forever, whether as a scar or a stain — they can’t be wiped away.” — Radhika Raut

#28. “We have lived through some unforgettable times together, some good, some bad, achieving results that will be hard to equal.” — Luca Cordero di Montezemolo

Unforgettable Memories Quotes and Wise Sayings About the Past

#29. “Memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.” — Kevin Arnold

#30. “A mother’s memories are ever fresh; she remembers everything about our growing up.” — Unknown

#31. “The more often you share what you’ve learned, the stronger that information will become in your memory.” — Steve Brunkhorst

#32. “The heart’s memory eliminates the bad and magnifies the good.” — Gabriel Garcia Marquez

#33. “You may not think you have a good memory, but you remember what’s important to you.” — Rick Warren

#34. “We do not remember days; we remember moments.” — Cesare Pavese

#35. “The value of things is not the time they last, but the intensity with which they occur. That is why there are unforgettable moments and unique people!” — Fernando Pessoa

#36. “Memory is the treasure house of the mind wherein the monuments thereof are kept and preserved.” — Thomas Fuller

#37. “Every man’s memory is his private literature.” — Aldous Huxley

#38. “A man’s real possession is his memory. In nothing else is he rich, in nothing else is he poor.” — Alexander Smith

#39. “Our memories are the only paradise from which we can never be expelled.” — Jean-Paul Richter

#40. “Memories — the one thing that can never be taken away from us. Make lots of them!” — Catherine Pulsifer

#41. “Life cannot be lived backwards. But our memories make up for that by making some moments truly unforgettable!” ― Avijeet Das

#42. “At the end of the day, memories are all that matters. Money fades, people change, but memories live on forever.” — Unknown

#43. “Some memories are unforgettable, remaining ever vivid and heartwarming!” — Joseph B. Wirthlin

To Conclude

There are so many memories that can bring us back to the comfort of our childhoods, the wild times we had with friends, and the romantic dates we went on with partners. But if you’re lucky enough to have wonderful memories like those, you probably have some bad ones too. Still, all of those unshakable memories make us who we are — so why would we even want to change them?

Hopefully, the unforgettable memories quotes I’ve put together above will show you that every cloud has a silver lining. Even as we mourn the loss of relationships, we get to remember all the lovely times we had before their collapse. And even as we age, we can look back on our youthful adventures! Our memories are made up of singular events, which is what makes them so unforgettable.