![]() ![]() The hard shell, far from protecting the vital principle, condemns it to die down slowly and be gradually chilled immortality in such a case must have been secured earlier, by giving birth to a generation plastic to the contemporary world and able to retain its lessons. In a moving world readaptation is the price of longevity. Last comes a stage when retentiveness is exhausted and all that happens is at once forgotten a vain, because unpractical, repetition of the past takes the place of plasticity and fertile readaptation. This is the plane of manhood and true progress. In a second stage men are docile to events, plastic to new habits and suggestions, yet able to graft them on original instincts, which they thus bring to fuller satisfaction. This is the condition of children and barbarians, in whom instinct has learned nothing from experience. In the first stage of life the mind is frivolous and easily distracted it misses progress by failing in consecutiveness and persistence. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. The passage I’m quoting comes from “Chapter XII-Flux and Constancy in Human Nature” (Volume I ) … Under the Heading ‘Continuity necessary to progress.’ ![]() The full name of the work is The Life of Reason or the Phases of Human Progress. The version comes from the Dover edition, which was first published in 1980. Project Gutenberg contains the entire work written by George Santayana. Numerous sources I consulted concurred that George Santayana wrote this and I finally found the text his quote is pulled from. However, the “original form” of the saying is, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” In a post on the Big Think that’s over a year old, Nicholas Clairmont said George Santayana (1863-1952) is most likely the source for the saying. That answer isn’t entirely clear but others have pinpointed the source of the general sentiment behind the saying. But I will admit that I never gave much thought to who first said something like this. Many of us have heard some version of this quote and most would agree there is a lot of truth to it. Now, this is one of my favorite famous sayings. ![]() I will have another entry ready for you on time this week (I’m already working on it). This entry will be dated Mabut I am really publishing it on March 6. I put so much work in the past two weeks that it totally slipped my mind (although I planned out the next 10 or so featured posts). My apologies for being late with this post. I have learned and am applying that knowledge to change history.Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Otherwise, “those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” And I can also vote against that same person that received my vote but did not serve my interests.Īmericans, it is as simple as the ABCs above. My right to vote for the person who represents my views. It does not even matter if I voted for him or her, they are responsible to us “the people.”Ĭ. My right to petition the government means I can write my grievances (complaints) to any elected official that represents me - Democrat or Republican, others. As long as we gather to express our viewpoint peacefully and do not prohibit (stop or get in the way of) the movement of commerce - people making a living, we are fine.ī. My right to peacefully assemble (protest) goes without saying but I will say it as simply as this. We have had the Constitution to guide us but for some reason we fail use it. Īmericans, we "the people" have the power to change history. WRITE TO US! Send a letter to the editor to the Daily News by following this link or the News Herald by following this link. What can we do to change or stop this cycle? News Flash! Another black man’s death at the hands of a law enforcement officer … again!.Little or no laws changed, or police procedures/policies of engagement.Law enforcement officers acquitted/mostly found not guilty.Calls for justice (local, state, national committees formed).Community outrage - protests (some peaceful and some riotous).A black man’s death at the hands of a law enforcement officer.So here we are again America, repeating the same old history: In a 1948 speech to the House of Commons, Winston Churchill changed the quote slightly when he said (paraphrased), “those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” ![]() “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it! (George Santayana-1905). ![]()
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