Lessons of History

"Fellow citizens: We cannot escape History" --A. Lincoln

Why study history? Are there any practical lessons we can learn from it? Or are we more likely take the wrong lessons, like generals who end up fighting the last war—using strategies that no longer apply? Consider the following thoughts about the relevance of history.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

--George Santayana

"People and governments have never learned anything from history."

--Georg Hegel

"The only lesson of history is that there are no lessons of history."

--A.J.P. Taylor

"History is more or less bunk."

--Henry Ford

"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme."

--Attributed to Mark Twain