The Memory Book Quotes

“Making the pictures ridiculous is what enables you to really see them; a logical picture is usually too vague.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“We want to eliminate rote, not find uses for it.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“I’ve used the “out-of-place” idea for years to remind me in the morning of something I thought of during the night. JL: You mean when you’ve had that million-dollar idea— HL: Which is usually worth $1.63 in the morning light. Still, I always felt that idea had to be immortalized. So at first I’d put on the lights, find a pad and pencil, and write it down—then, since I invariably woke up my wife, I started keeping a pad on my night table and writing down the idea in the dark. JL: Could you read your writing in the morning? HL: Not too well. Which was fine, because that inspired me to really solve the problem. Now, whenever I get an idea, I reach out an arm and do something that will be sure to catch my attention in the morning. Usually, I dump all my cigarettes on the floor—when I get out of bed in the morning I can’t miss stepping on those cigarettes and being reminded that I had an idea during the night. JL: Do you ever have trouble remembering what the idea was? HL: Not usually. But if I do feel I need a reminder of the thought itself— JL: You associate the Key Word of the idea to cigarettes. HL: Right! And if I ever manage to stop smoking, I’ll reach over and turn my clock face down, or put it on the floor, or push a book off my night table. JL: Anything that’s out of place, that forces you to look at it and think, “What in the world is that doing there?” will do.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“That’s all there is to it. It’s like grabbing your mind by the scruff of the neck and forcing it to think of a specific thing at a specific moment. Force yourself to do it at first, and it will become habitual before you know it.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“Why ruin your evening out because you spend most of it worrying about whether or not you turned off the oven, locked the door, or unplugged the iron? Form the habit of making a quick association at the moment you do these things. As you shut off the oven, picture yourself (or just your head) in the oven! Really see that picture, and you’ve consciously thought about the action for a split second. Later on, when you think about the oven, you’ll know you shut it off. As you lock your door, see yourself locking it with your head instead of a key. When you unplug your iron, see your head coming out of the socket. The picture you choose is unimportant—any picture forces you to think of the action at that moment.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“If it’s going to a company, use a Substitute thought. For example, if it’s an electric bill, see electricity (lightning) shooting out of a mailbox.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“Many people are plagued by misplacing treasured items. You usually put the item in a particularly good hiding place—and then never see it again. (If you do, it’s likely to be when you move, and empty all your drawers and closets.) This problem, too, can be solved by making an instant association. Say you have an expensive fountain pen that you want to keep for a child or grandchild. You place it in a drawer beneath your good sweaters for safekeeping. As you place it there, see a picture of the pen leaking ink all over those sweaters, ruining them. Be assured that the next time you think of that pen, no matter how long after you’ve put it away, you’ll know that it’s under your sweaters.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“You’re writing at your desk and the phone rings. As you reach for the phone, you place the pencil behind your ear, or in your hair. The phone call is finished—that took only a few minutes—but now you waste time searching for the pencil that’s perched behind your ear. Would you like to avoid that aggravation? All right, then; the next time the phone rings and you start to place the pencil behind your ear, make a fast mental picture in your mind. Actually “see” the pencil going into your ear—all the way. The idea may make you shudder, but when you think of that pencil, you’ll know where it is. That silly association of seeing the pencil go into your ear forced you to think of two things in a fraction of a second: 1) the pencil, and 2) where you were putting it. Problem solved!”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“Since association forces Original Awareness—and since being Originally Aware is the same as having something register in your mind in the first place, at the moment it occurs—then forming an instant association must solve the problem of absentmindedness.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“You are absentminded when your mind is absent; when you perform actions unconsciously, without thinking. We’ve discussed the difference between seeing and observing—we see with our eyes, but we observe with our minds. If your mind is “absent” when performing an action, there can be no observation; more important, there can be no Original Awareness.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“It takes time and space to explain these pictures; thinking or visualizing them takes much less time, and you do it during your initial conversation. Don’t lose sight of the fact that trying to form these ridiculous pictures is forcing you to be Originally Aware; you’re registering that information in the first place. Also, remember that after you’ve used the information a few times, whether it’s just the name or information about a person—it all becomes knowledge and the ridiculous pictures fade; they’re no longer necessary.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“For first names, make up a Substitute Word for the name and get it into your picture. Once you make one up for any name, it will become a standard for you. You might use all in for Alan, robber for Robert, cherry for Jerry, floor ants for Florence, bride (marry) for Mary, shield for Sheila, hairy for Harry, gym for Jim, and so on. You can put anything you like into your original picture—the person’s business affiliation, spouse’s name, children’s names, hobby, how much money he owes you—whatever. Of course, it will take longer to form the original picture or association, but it would take longer to remember all that information in any case.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“Assume you’ve met three new people today, and have applied the system you just learned. Later, write those three names down on a pad you keep for just that purpose. Writing each name is a review. You can’t write the name without thinking of it, and, if you’ve applied the system, you can’t think of the name without the face being conjured up in your mind. That’s the way the system works—think of the name and you’ll visualize the face; think of the face and you’ll visualize the name. The next day, read those names. Three days later, read them again, and a week later read them once more. Then forget about them. The next time one of those people comes into your place of business, you’ll know that person’s name!”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“If Mr. Bentavagnia has a large nose, you’d see a bent weather vane where the nose should be. Mr. Pukczyva has bulging eyes; really see those shivering hockey pucks flying out of his eyes, hitting you in the face. Or, his eyes are shivering hockey pucks. Mr. Antesiewicz has a noticeable cleft in his chin. See savages charging at you out of that cleft; you’re defending yourself against them—you’re anti-savage. Mr. Cohen has deep character lines (they used to be called “worry” lines) on his forehead. Picture those lines being dripping ice cream cones; or millions of dripping ice cream cones flying out of those lines.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“you’ve just met Mr. Crane. A picture of a large crane, as used by construction workers, comes to mind; or perhaps the storklike bird. You’ve looked at his face and decided that his high forehead is the outstanding feature. You look at that forehead, and really picture many large cranes flying out of it; or, you can see them attacking that high forehead! Or perhaps the entire forehead is one gigantic crane.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“step three that gives purpose to steps one and two—it locks the name and face together for you. Form a ridiculous association between your Substitute Word and the outstanding feature of the face; that’s all.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“Even if step three didn’t work (which it does), just applying steps one and two must improve your memory for names and faces, because you’ve done what most people don’t do—you’ve paid attention; you’ve listened and looked.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“you’ve decided on an outstanding feature, and you already had a Substitute Word for its owner’s name. Now we come to step three—you associate the Substitute Word to the outstanding feature. If you do this properly, it will almost be like having the person’s name written on his face!”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“by searching for an outstanding feature, you’re accomplishing the second important step—you’re forcing yourself to look at, be interested in, concentrate on, that face! What you select could be anything: hair or hairline; forehead (narrow, wide, or high); eyebrows (straight, arched, bushy); eyes (narrow, wide-spaced, close-set); nose (large, small, pug, ski); nostrils (flaring, pinched); high cheekbones; cheeks (full or sunken); lips (straight, arched, full, thin); chin (cleft, receding, jutting); lines, pimples, warts, dimples—anything. First impressions are usually lasting impressions, and what is outstanding on someone’s face now will, most likely, seem outstanding when you see that face again. That’s important; but more important is the fact that you’ve really looked at that face. You’re etching that face into your memory by just trying to apply the system.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“by searching for an outstanding feature, you’re accomplishing the second important step—you’re forcing yourself to look at, be interested in, concentrate on, that face! What you select could be anything: hair or hairline; forehead (narrow, wide, or high); eyebrows (straight, arched, bushy); eyes (narrow, wide-spaced, close-set); nose (large, small, pug, ski); nostrils (flaring, pinched); high cheekbones; cheeks (full or sunken); lips (straight, arched, full, thin); chin (cleft, receding, jutting); lines, pimples, warts, dimples—anything.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“Now for step two. You’ve just been introduced to someone and you’ve made up a Substitute Word for his name; what do you do with it? Well, what you have to do is look at that person’s face and select what you think is its outstanding feature.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“For the suffix -son, you might always see a smaller version of the main thing you’re picturing. For example, for Robinson, you could see a robin and a smaller robin—its son. Or, you could use the sun in the sky as your standard. For Mc- or Mac-, you could always picture a Mack truck; for -itz or -witz, picture brains (wits); for -berg, see an iceberg; for -stein, picture a beer stein; for -ton, see the item weighing a ton; for a -ger ending, we usually picture either a wild animal growling (grr), or a cigar”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“For the name Barclay, you could use bar clay or bark lay; for Smolenski, a small lens (camera) skiing; for Caruthers, a car with udders; for Krakowitz, cracker wits; for Frankesni, frank (hot dog) has knee; for Esposito, expose a toe; for Dalrymple, doll rumple; for Kolodny, colored knee; for Androfkavitz, Ann drop car witch; for Giordano, jawed on O; for Virostek, virile stick; and so on.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“Ordinarily, there’d be no way to picture a name like Bentavagnia (pronounced bent-a-vane-ya). But you can picture, say, a bent weather vane. And bent vane has to remind you of Bentavagnia! The Substitute Word system will work beautifully to help you remember names. Applying it will force you to listen to, pay attention to, concentrate on that name—to be Originally Aware of”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“you would like to remember names and faces, there are three steps involved; the first step takes care of the name, the second takes care of the face, and the third locks the two of them together. What you have to do is associate the name to the face in some ridiculous way.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“you some examples, you should be aware of the fact that most people don’t really forget names. They just don’t remember them in the first place—often, they don’t really hear them in the first place. Just think back and remember the many times you’ve been introduced to someone, when all you heard was a mumble.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“Most of us recognize faces (did you ever hear anyone say, “Oh, I know your name, but I don’t recognize your face”?). It’s the names we have trouble with. Since we do usually recognize faces, the thing to do is apply a system wherein the face tells us the name.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“The idea applies to any word, short or long. The French word for grapefruit is pamplemousse. Picture huge yellow pimples all over a moose; each pimple is actually a grapefruit. If you try to see any of these silly pictures, the system must work—for reasons you already know: You’re forcing yourself to be Originally Aware, you’re really concentrating on the word, and you’re forcing yourself to use your imagination. There just is no way to apply the Substitute Word system to a foreign word without concentrating on or being Originally Aware of that word, and using some imagination. And finally, applying the system reminds you of the two things (that entity of two mentioned before) you must know: the pronunciation of the foreign word, and its English equivalent.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“To remember jokes, many professional comedians Link a Key Word or thought of one joke to the Key Word of the next, and so on. The comedian knows the jokes; he simply needs reminders of the jokes and their sequence.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play

“Applied to reading material, the idea forces you to read actively, with concentration; applied to lectures, it does the same thing. It’s difficult to allow your mind to wander when you’re listening for Key Words to remind you of thoughts. The next time you want to remember more of reading or lecture material than you usually do, try applying what you’ve learned here. You’ll be surprised at how much you retain.”
― Harry Lorayne, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play