Memorization--did it help you learn English?

There have been some threads on the "Languages" subforum about the usefulness of memorization in learning a language. Any thoughts from English-language learners?

Specifically: Did it help to memorize extensive texts (dialogues, paragraphs, complete stories), not just words and phrases? I'm wondering if this would help with speaking and writing.

Heinrich Schliemann, the guy who uncovered Troy, would memorize long sections of texts--and sometimes entire books! Once his memory was "trained" in this way, he was able to learn a new language relatively quickly.