History - Quotes
George Santayana:
George Wilhelm Hegel:Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Gerda Lerner:What experience and history teach is this -- that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles.
Gerda Lerner:What we do about history matters. The often repeated saying that those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them has a lot of truth in it. But what are 'the lessons of history'? The very attempt at definition furnishes ground for new conflicts. History is not a recipe book; past events are never replicated in the present in quite the same way. Historical events are infinitely variable and their interpretations are a constantly shifting process. There are no certainties to be found in the past.
We can learn from history how past generations thought and acted, how they responded to the demands of their time and how they solved their problems. We can learn by analogy, not by example, for our circumstances will always be different than theirs were. The main thing history can teach us is that human actions have consequences and that certain choices, once made, cannot be undone. They foreclose the possibility of making other choices and thus they determine future events.
Adrienne Rich:Ambrose Bierce:False history gets made all day, any day,
the truth of the new is never on the news.[Just check out Fox News!]
HISTORY, n. An account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools.
COMMENTS:
Labels: history quotes
posted by Anonymous @ 7/10/2008 11:16:00 AM
That's an insightful collection!! The problem is, it takes a degree of intelligence to understand them, and that is one thing sorely lacking in our government!!
Monday, July 14, 2008 12:47:00 AM
So what your saying is, we are all doomed? I'm with future - lack of intelligence in the government.
Things might change, if we could wrangle the reigns of government from the elitist politician, and hand them to the common-sense joe on the street. That might make too much sense though, and might sound too communist to the average repuke.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008 11:23:00 PM
You said it, fellows!!
Thursday, July 17, 2008 12:57:00 PM