quote about memory

Memoir is not an act of history but an act of memory, which is innately corrupt. -Mary Karr, (b. 1955) poet and memoirist

I thought this was a great quote.  When I write about anything from memory, and someone tells me “that’s not how it happened at all!”, I remind them gently, “But that’s how I remember it.”  Memory can be selective, can be clouded by emotion, can be softened or hardened with time depending on the moment I’m trying to recall.