Great book about time...
"Question: Some have stopped reading altogether. They have abandoned the past. They have decided that it matters not if yesterday they were rich or poor, educated or ignorant, proud or humble, in love or empty hearted - no more than it matters how a soft wind gets into their hair. Such people look at you directly in the eye and grip your hand firmly. Such people walk with the limber stride of their youth. Such people have learned how to live in a world without memory.
Answers:
'Einstein's Dreams' by Alan Lightman is technically a novel, but more like a collection of poetry than anything else. In his poetic writing Lightman uses simple and literal details to tell us where we are. In reality we are in Berne, Switzerland in the spring of 1905. Einstein is working as a patent clerk, and in snatched moments of spare time he is working on his theory of relativity. Einstein often daydreams, or dozes during this time.
The real essence of the novel, however, resides in Einstein's dreams - 30 short stories, which take place in various places, times, speeds, etc. In one dream time may bend back upon itself, and in another dream someone is taken from the present into the past and left there. In the one in question there is no past, no memory of yesterday or of history going back centuries.
The dreams all tell of people who eventually adapt to their situation, be it time travel, or change of perception of time, or the concept of age relating to height from sea level.
This quote relates to acceptance of the present. It puts past victories, or riches, or attributes into the same category as a soft wind momentarily ruffling hair ... there, and then not there. It is about people whose acceptance of this moment have a confidence, or an inner strength, gained from not caring about what has gone before."