John Locke

“ Ideas fade in the memory. Concerning the several degrees of lasting, wherewith ideas are imprinted on the memory, we may observe, – that some of them have been produced in the understanding by an object affecting the senses once only, and no more than once ; others, that have more than once offered themselves to the senses, have yet been little taken notice of : the mind, either heedless, as in children, or otherwise employed, as in men intent only on one thing ”

“ There is another defect which we may conceive to be in the memory of man in general ; – compared with some superior created intellectual beings, which in this faculty may so far excel man, that they may have constantly in view the whole scene of all their former actions, wherein no one of the thoughts they have ever had may slip out of their sight. The omniscience of God, who knows all things, past, present, and to come, and to whom the thoughts of men’s hearts always lie open, may satisfy us of the possibility of this. ”

“ This may be observed in those who by some mischance have lost their sight when they were very young ; in whom the ideas of colours having been but slightly taken notice of, and ceasing to be repeated, do quite wear out ; so that some years after, there is no more notion nor memory of colours left in their minds, than in those of people born blind. The memory of some men, it is true, is very tenacious, even to a miracle. But yet there seems to be a constant decay of all our ideas, even of those which are struck deepest, and in minds the most retentive ”

“ Brutes have memory. This faculty of laying up and retaining the ideas that are brought into the mind, several other animals seem to have to a great degree, as well as man. For, to pass by other instances, birds learning of tunes, and the endeavours one may observe in them to hit the notes right, put it past doubt with me, that they have perception, and retain ideas in their memories, and use them for patterns. ”

“ Thus the ideas, as well as children, of our youth, often die before us : and our minds represent to us those tombs to which we are approaching ; where, though the brass and marble remain, yet the inscriptions are effaced by time, and the imagery moulders away. The pictures drawn in our minds are laid in fading colours ”

“ For who can doubt but God may communicate to those glorious spirits, his immediate attendants, any of his perfections ; in what proportions he pleases, as far as created finite beings can be capable ? It is reported of that prodigy of parts, Monsieur Pascal, that till the decay of his health had impaired his memory, he forgot nothing of what he had done, read, or thought, in any part of his rational age. ”

“ The dull man, who loses the opportunity, whilst he is seeking in his mind for those ideas that should serve his turn, is not much more happy in his knowledge than one that is perfectly ignorant. It is the business therefore of the memory to furnish to the mind those dormant ideas which it has present occasion for ; in the having them ready at hand on all occasions, consists that which we call invention, fancy, and quickness of parts.
9. A defect which belongs to the memory of man, as finite. These are defects we may observe in the memory of one man compared with another. ”

“ The great business of the senses being, to make us take notice of what hurts or advantages the body, it is wisely ordered by nature, as has been shown, that pain should accompany the reception of several ideas ; which, supplying the place of consideration and reasoning in children, and acting quicker than consideration in grown men, makes both the old and young avoid painful objects with that haste which is necessary for their preservation ; and in both settles in the memory a caution for the future. ”

“ Constantly repeated ideas can scarce be lost. But concerning the ideas themselves, it is easy to remark, that those that are oftenest refreshed (amongst which are those that are conveyed into the mind by more ways than one) by a frequent return of the objects or actions that produce them, fix themselves best in the memory, and remain clearest and longest there ”

“ This is a privilege so little known to most men, that it seems almost incredible to those who, after the ordinary way, measure all others by themselves ; but yet, when considered, may help us to enlarge our thoughts towards greater perfections of it, in superior ranks of spirits. For this of Monsieur Pascal was still with the narrowness that human minds are confined to here, – of having great variety of ideas only by succession, not all at once. Whereas the several degrees of angels may probably have larger views ”

“ This, we may conceive, would be no small advantage to the knowledge of a thinking man, – if all his past thoughts and reasonings could be always present to him. And therefore we may suppose it one of those ways, wherein the knowledge of separate spirits may exceedingly surpass ours. ”

“ For it seems to me impossible that they should endeavour to conform their voices to notes (as it is plain they do) of which they had no ideas. For, though I should grant sound may mechanically cause a certain motion of the animal spirits in the brains of those birds, whilst the tune is actually playing ; and that motion may be continued on to the muscles of the wings, and so the bird mechanically be driven away by certain noises, because this may tend to the bird’s preservation ”