Execrable Frippery

“Should some Mischievous Power, in this World or Another, sentence me to repeat the Experience,—and knowing what I know now,—”
   “There’s the Catch, of course,” Dixon pretending to be calm.
   “What.—”
   “Knowing what tha know now. Tha won’t. That’s part of the Price,—to drink from Lethe, and lose all thy Memories. Tha’ll be considering the next World brand new,—nawh…? never seen thah’ before!—and tha’ll go ahead and make the same mistakes, unless tha’ve brought along a Remembrancer, as some would say a Conscience…? something stash’d in thy Boot-Strap to get thee going upon a cold Day,—and cold shall it be,—a part of thy Soul that doesn’t depend on Memories, that lies further than Memories…?”
—Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon (1997)