"Memory's an amazing thing. Our memories shape us, providing a backdrop for our daily lives, a context for our actions, a rationale for our sometimes dubious decisions. Who we are today is inextricably woven through with memories of who we were yesterday, and the days before that- threads in the same complicated tapestry- high lighting episodes from our pasts, spotlighting our latest disappointments an first loves. Or hates. Pull one thread, and watch the whole thing unravel. Who did what to whom, what foods we've developed a taste for, the multiple skills we've mastered or failed at, the movies we've enjoyed, the music we've danced to, what movie stars we admire, what politicians we don't- if we can't remember such seemingly ordinary details, well, then, who are we? It's our memories that define us. Without them, we have no identity. We have nothing. Those pathetic old creatures who've outlived their memories and now sit screaming in lonely hospital corridors, scream not with the pain of their deteriorating organs, but rather with the agony of no longer knowing who they are, their ears searching their cries for the sound of a familiar voice. They live in the eternal present, and it's hell on earth." "Heartstopper" by Joy fielding