Memorizing philosophy verbatim

Hello everyone, I’ve decided to fill my mind with philosophical texts and would like to know how effective my system is compared to others.

This is the style I have been committing to memory — Nietzsche :

“Against all this, a double wall is erected: first, revelation—that is, the claim that the reason behind those laws is not of human origin, that it is not the result of a slow inquiry accompanied by errors, but, having a divine origin, it was only communicated in perfect form, without a history, as a gift, as a miracle… Second, tradition—that is, the claim that the law has existed since the most ancient times, that to doubt it would be impious and criminal in regard to the ancestors. The authority of the law rests on two theses: God gave it, the ancestors lived by it. The highest wisdom in such a process lies in the intention to gradually displace consciousness from the life deemed correct (i.e., proven by vast and finely sifted experience), in order thereby to achieve complete automatism of instinct—this is the precondition for every kind of mastery, for all perfection in the art of living. To compile a code of laws after the model of Manu means to acknowledge the people as masters, to acknowledge that they may lay claim to the highest art of living. For this, it must be created unconsciously: this is the purpose of every sacred lie. – The caste order, the supreme ruling law, is only the sanctioning of the natural order, the natural legality of the highest rank, over which no arbitrariness, no ‘modern idea’ has any power. In every healthy society, there emerge—mutually conditioning one another—three physiologically distinct types, from […]”

In two days, I managed to memorize about 2.5 pages—similar in length to the passage above. But after seeing others memorize 8 to 10 pages from notebooks, I began to wonder if I’m doing something wrong.

Hi there, please explain your system to us and walk us through your process if you want feedback on them - there’s not much we can do with just a Nietzsche quote.

instead of memorizing, why not try to understand ?
if you understand the foundation and basic premise of the Philosophy, then you will be explain it in your own words.
you can use chatgpt to give you bullet points, this will make it way way easier for you.
below is the summary of the passage in 100 words…
“The passage explains how traditional laws gain authority through a “double wall”: revelation (divine origin, perfect and unquestionable) and tradition (ancient, ancestral, and sacred). This dual claim shifts people from conscious moral reasoning to instinctive obedience, enabling mastery in life through automatic behavior. Sacred lies, like those in the Laws of Manu, serve to legitimize social hierarchies, especially the caste system, as reflections of natural order rather than human constructs. In such societies, hierarchies are seen as physiological and inevitable, immune to modern values. This structure promotes social stability by embedding obedience into the unconscious fabric of life.”

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I think that, with the exception of some concise and very brilliant quotes, you should do what the friend Mnemovice here suggested: summarize the main point of the passages you liked and memorize that. That is, if your goals are getting the important thoughts and reflect over them. If your thing is wanting to have the hole book in your head, then that’s that!

Hi. I dont think its useful to memorize verbatim so difficult things. I think is more clever to understand and create a síntesis. And memorize that.