I have nothing left of my past but what I carry in my head. I regard
memory not as a phenomenon preserving one thing and losing another by
chance, but as a power that deliberately places events in order or
wisely omits them. Everything we forget about our lives was condemned
to oblivion by instinct long ago. So I ask my memory to speak to me and
choose for me and to recollect my life before it sinks into the dark.
-- Stefan Zweig
descensus Averno facilis est