"The value of information does not survive the moment in which it was new. It lives only at that moment; it has to surrender to it completely and explain itself to it without losing any time. A story is different. It does not expend itself. It preserves and concentrates its strength and is capable of releasing it even after a long time."

and,

"Boredom is the dream bird that hatches the egg of experience. A rustling in the leaves drives him away. His nesting places--the activities that are intimately associated with boredom--are already extinct in the cities and declining in the country as well."

And we are hardly ever bored any more. We keep ourselves so busy there is no place for memory to grow into anything more than information, and this prevents us from encountering the things that can really change us.