---
name: "Saul Bellow on Memory"
date: 2026-06-21
link: "https://wordsmith.org/words/recumbentibus.html"
linkText: "wordsmith.org"
source: "A.Word.A.Day"
topics: [words-and-humor]
tags: [memory, identity, literature, awad]
description: "On memory as a defense against insignificance."
---

> Everybody needs his memories. They keep the wolf of insignificance from the door.

— Saul Bellow, novelist and Nobel laureate (10 June 1915–2005). A.Word.A.Day Thought for Today.