The Memory Police Quotes

"No one can ___ the ___!"

"No one can erase the stories!"

"The island is ___ by ___ who are ___ to see things ___…[to them] ___ that fails to ___ when they should is ___"

"The island is run by men who are determined to see things disappear…[to them] anything that fails to vanish when they should is inconceivable"

"You'll ___ you ever had a ___…then at last ___ be all ___"

"You'll forget you ever had a voice…then at last you'll be all mine"

"When you ___ your ___, you lost the ___ to make ___ of ___."

"When you lost your voice, you lost the ability to make sense of yourself."

"Each [of the Narrator's ___] told the ___ of ___ that had been ___."

"Each [of the Narrator's stories] told the story of something that had been disappeared."

"You are the same ___ now that you were when you ___ ___."

"You are the same person now that you were when you wrote novels."

"___ by an ___ that would not be ___"

"replaced by an emptiness that would not be filled"

"a new ___ has ___ in my ___, and there is no way to ___ it up ___"

"a new hole has opened in my heart, and there is no way to fill it up again"

"We all go ___ with our ___ ___."

"We all go around with our shoulders hunched."

"[The narrator] had ___ the ___ thing [she] would be able to ___ [R]"

"[The narrator] had completed the one thing [she] would be able to leave [R]"

"[the narrator] could ___ the ___ of [R's] body ___, his blood ___, his muscles ___."

"[the narrator] could feel the outline of [R's] body blurring, his blood thinning, his muscles withering."

"If you read a ___ to the ___, then it's ___…I'd much rather ___ it with me, ___ and ___, ___."

"If you read a novel to the end, then it's over…I'd much rather keep it with me, safe and sound, forever."

"___ people here ___ any ___ for ___"

"few people here have any need for novels"

"___ in the ___ room, I ___ to ___."

"Closed in the hidden room, I continue to disappear."

"We ___ have to ___ things to ___."

"We simply have to leave things to fate."

"What can the ___ on this island ___?…___, unreliable ___ that will never ___ ___ for those that are ___."

"What can the people on this island create?…poor, unreliable things that will never make up for those that are disappearing."

"When I was a ___, this place ___ a lot ___, a lot more ___."

"When I was a child, this place seemed a lot fuller, a lot more real."

"___ are a lot ___ than you may ___…like the ___ that ___ them."

"Memories are a lot tougher than you may think…like the hearts that hold them."

"They may be nothing more than ___ of ___, but they ___ something ___."

"They may be nothing more than scraps of paper, but they capture something profound."

"Maybe there is a ___ out there where people whose ___ aren't ___ can go on ___."

"Maybe there is a place out there where people whose hearts aren't empty can go on living."

"I can't just ___ by ___ as your ___ ___"

"I can't just stand by watching as your soul withers"

"I have to ___ do with a ___ full of ___. That's why I am ___ of your ___, one that ___ some ___"

"I have to make do with a heart full of holes. That's why I am jealous of your heart, one that offers some resistance"

"But it is ___ to ___ on…I have no ___ to resist the ___"

"But it is time to move on…I have no strength to resist the disappearances"

"When the ___ of your ___ begins to ___, I ___ you want to ___ the ___ in ___"

"When the surface of your soul begins to stir, I imagine you want to capture the sensation in writing"

"no ___ can ___"

"no one can escape"

"if you don't ___, you ___ their ___"

"if you don't cooperate, you become their victim"

"they were ___ of ___ a ___"

"they were afraid of creating a disturbance" -- passitivity normalised

"we all ___ around with our ___ ___"

"we all go around with our shoulders hunched"

"___ will never ___"

"spring will never come" -- realisation of the affect the lack of snow will have

"the ___ outside was ___"

"the world outside was deteriorating" -- near the start of the novel

"they ___ to ___ a bit more ___ each ___"

"they seemed to grow a bit more brutal each time"

"as things got ___…our ___ got ___, too"

"as things got thinner…our hearts got thinner, too"

"the ___ has been ___, and there is ___ more to be ___ about ___"

"the ferry has been disappeared, and there is nothing more to be said about it"

"we ___ went about our ___ morning ___…___…a new ___…in our ___"

"we merely went about our usual morning routines…accepting…a new cavity…in our lives"

"just the ___ it is on this ___"

"just the way it is on this island"

"the only ___ that was ___ was the ___ of ___ who once ___ it"

"the only thing that was different was the hearts of those who once heard it"

"___ are just ___ of ___"

"calendars are just scraps of paper"

"it's ___ good ___"

"it's no good overthinking"

"and I ___ that they may ___ to ___ my ___"

"and I suspect that they may want to use my research"

"___ things remain ___ things"

"important things remain important things"

"even if the ___ disappears, this ___ will still be ___"

"even if the island disappears, this room will still be here"

"your ___ is doing ___ it can to ___ its ___"

"your heart is doing everything it can to preserve its existence"

"a ___…has no ___"

"a heart…has no limit"

"one ___ you'll simply ___ up and it will be ___, before you even ___."

"one morning you'll simply wake up and it will be over, before you even realise." — narrator’s mother reassuring her daughter about the disappearances

"no one ___ even ___ what it was that ___"

"no one could even recall what it was that disappeared"

"___ like ___ are a ___ to the ___"

"people like me are a danger to the island"

"we’re all ___ to do as we ___ with our own ___"

"we are all free to do as we choose with our own memories" — R

"no ___ how many ___ these ___ take away, they'll never ___ it to ___."

"no matter how many memories these men take away, they'll never reduce it to nothing."

"I can't ___ and ___ her ___"

"I can't go and leave her behind" — R not wanting to leave his wife behind

"___ go on ___, one by ___"

"things go on disappearing one by one" — Narrator’s Mother to the Narrator

"they ___ it to ___ with their own ___"

"they force it to disappear with their own hands"

"they ___ in ___"

"they work in silence"

"they took ___ people at ___…in broad ___"

"they took four people at once…in broad daylight"

"they're ___ everywhere"

"they're lurking everywhere"

"we ___ this ___ over and ___"

"we repeated this ritual over and over"

"there is ___ too ___ about things ___—or ___ about them"

"there is nothing too terrible about things disappearing—or forgetting about them"

"the new ___ in my ___ search for ___ to ___"

"the new cavities in my heart search for things to burn"

“nearly ___, with only ___ ___ on their ___ to ___ them ___”

“nearly identical, with only three badges on their collars to tell them apart”

“I was ___ able to ___”

“I was suddenly able to remember” — not completely hopeless, remembering just takes effort

“they ___ in me no ___”

“they evoked in me no feeling”

“I hope my ___ will ___ on ___ here, through ___”

“I hope my memory will live on forever here, through you”

“in the ___ all that was ___ was a ___”

“in the end all that was left was a voice”

“the ___…___ to ___ without ___”

“the snow…continued to fall without respite”

“you won’t even be ___ ___”

“you won’t even be particularly sad”

“but no one ___ much of a ___”

“but no one makes much of a fuss”

“the ___ are covered in ___ trees…the ___ are always ___ in mist”

“the mountains are covered in thorny trees…the summits are always cloaked in mist”

“there is no ___ of the ___…no one knows its precise ___, or exactly what ___ on the other ___ of the ___”

“there is no map of the island…no one knows its precise shape, or exactly what lies on the other side of the mountains”

“most ___ on the ___ found some other line of ___ quickly”

“most people on the island found some other line of work quickly”

“___ of them said a ___ about it”

“none of them said a words about it”

“___ more than a simple ___”

“nothing more than a simple creature”

“my ___ was lost in the ___ of ___ on the ___”

“my voice was lost in the pile of memories on the floor”

“the ___…had only a ___ of ___, no matter when one ___, and the ___ seem to ___ on the shelves”

“the library…had only a handful of patrons, no matter when one visits, and the books seem to cower of the shelves”

“I’ve found ___ way to ___ in the ___ left by the Memory Police”

“I’ve found no way to fill in the voids left by the Memory Police”

“taking the ___ in both hands, as though he was ___ a ___”

“taking the book in both hands, as though he was receiving a sacrament”

“___ often we ___ of our ___”

“most often we spoke of our memories”

“and what will ___ if ___ disappear”

“and what will happen if words disappear”

“no one ___ and no one ___ to ___”

“no one knows and no one needs to know”

“the ___ will soon be nothing but ___ and ___”

“the island will soon be nothing but absences and holes”

“the ___ of the island were by now quite ___ to these ___”

“the citizens of the island were by now quite accustomed to these losses”

“the ___ that I ___ in my ___”

“the self that I put in my novels”

“I felt an ___ sense of ___”

“I felt an inescapable sense of oppression” (regarding the typing teacher)

“my most reliable ___”

“my most reliable compass”

“as though the ___ had ___ their ___”

“as though the snow had frozen their hearts”

“In ___ for a ___ that was able to ___ everything…perhaps it was ___ that the ___ gradually ___ away”

“In recompense for a mind that was able to retain everything…perhaps it was necessary that the body gradually fade away”

“___ them became a way of ___ that I was still ___”

“touching them became a way of confirming that I was still whole”

“but that’s all ___ now. My ___ seems to be ___ down”

“but that’s all changed now. My soul seems to be breaking down”

“remembering is ___”

“remembering is impossible”

“___ your hand in and you’re bound to find ___”

“plunge your hand in and you’re bound to find something”

“___ her with ___ looks”

“watched her with pitying looks”

“___ who start by ___ books end by ___ other ___”

“men who start by burning books end by burning other men”

“___ you won’t even ___ that you used to write ___”

“eventually you won’t even remember that you used to write novels”

“the ___ of the ___ had ___ and ___ through the air the the way ___ had once ___ their ___.”

“the pages of the book had opened and fluttered through the air the the way birds had once spread their wings.”

“it seemed to have a ___ ___”

“it seemed to have a special significance”

“as though I am ___ a thick ___”

“as though I am in a thick fog”

“I ___ I could hear the ___ of my ___ burning that ___”

“I thought I could hear the sound of my memory burning that night”

“make up ___ that doesn’t ___ just by using ___”

“make up something that doesn’t exist just by using words”

“his ___ is too ___”

“his soul is too dense”

“___ that was ___ to ___, like the ___”

“force that was impossible to oppose, like the disappearances”

“___ to ___ over the whole ___”

“threatening to wash over the whole island”

“___ to hold ___ and stare at one ___ for a long ___”

“content to hold hands and stare at one another for a long time”