Wednesday, August 31, 2011

On history repeating itself

It's a common theme that history repeats itself. Common but mistaken, and Mark Twain accurately corrected it to say that "History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme."

Less entertainly, and less accurately, Santayana said that "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

(It's not worth quoting George Bernard Shaw, "If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience". Except to contrast his laboured effort with Chesterton's effortless paradoxes.)

Anyways, this post is to report a nice variation on the theme:
"Every time history repeats itself the price goes up" (per Anon).

Source:
Jewish World Review, August 31, 2011
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com/



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