“Yes, suddenly I saw it clearly: most people deceive themselves with a pair of faiths: they believe in
eternal memory (of people, things, deeds, nations) and in
redressibility (of deeds, mistakes, sins, wrongs). Both are false faiths. In reality the opposite is true: everything will be forgotten and nothing will be redressed. The task of obtaining redress (by vengeance or by forgiveness) will be taken over by forgetting. No one will redress the wrongs that have been done, but all wrongs will be forgotten.”
―
Milan Kundera,
The Joke