History does not always repeat itself. Sometimes it just yells, “Can’t you remember anything I told you?” and lets fly with a club.
—John W. Campbell Jr.
That quote has a lot more zip than the usual,
People who don’t learn from history are bound to repeat it.
But the question is, what would history be trying to tell us?
At the moment I’m reading Larry Gonick’s Cartoon History of the Universe III: From the Rise of Arabia to the Renaissance.
As you can see from the cover, it doesn’t tell us how mankind can live in peace and harmony. If anything it warns us that sooner or later someone else will try dominate us. Do you think that’s too pessimistic a view?
June 15,2015
“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”
~ Thomas Jefferson
““Dead yesterdays and unborn tomorrows, why fret about it, if today be sweet.”
~ Omar Khayyam
The Khayyam quote seems to fit you better than the Jefferson one. Am I missing something?
ditto rummy!
and…
i think that’s probably not a pessimistic view monk … rather realistic.
based on history as we know it.
i’m still waiting for the apple to fall up!
I love it — waiting for the apple to fall up. 🙂
Not too pessimistic. Though we know there are more or less violent places and so can design and build more peaceful places.
The world is changing fast. Who knows what will happen and how much control we have over it. I agree, though, we should do the best we can to find/create the peaceful places and not worry about the rest.
I just could not resist the temptation to be a relativist for a change!
I hate being a pessimist, especially since I’m trying to be positive.
But for a while the daily News had me thinking that it was hopeless and things were getting worse and that Earth would end up a charred wasteland.
Then I started thinking that THAT was the plan.
To make us feel hopeless and powerless and just not care.
I agree with Rummuser’s quotes, both of which were not thinking about the past but rather focused on this day and just moving forward.
The quote about dreams of the future strikes me as a bit too simple. It takes a lot more than dreaming — it takes courage, work, understanding, persistence, etc. History teaches us a lot about the challenges we might face. Our chances of success are better if we’re rooted in reality.