About the History Maniac
The History Maniac fellow is just your average everyday history buff. He is not extraordinaire, elaborate or flashy. But what you do find in these pages will be unique, thought provoking and truthful.
Let us start with a famous fellow whose literary genius no one can doubt. One of his essay's has had an impact on the way we view history. Or better said "should have had" an impact on how we view history!
George Santayana was born in Madrid, Spain on December 16th, 1863. He passed away on September 26th, 1952, at age 89! He was a well-known philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. I am sure that most readers of history will remember this quote from George Santayana:
"Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it."
Unfortunately, that is a misquoted or a paraphrase at best. Here is the correct quote:
"Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. 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. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it".
A much longer actual quote but nevertheless has the same kernel of truth as the misquote. His famous quote has over the years multiplied into several different misquotes all around the same general theme:
Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Those who do not remember their past are condemned to repeat their mistakes.
Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it.
Those who fail to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors are destined to repeat them.
Those who do not know history's mistakes are doomed to repeat them.
George Santayana's original philological statement is the core of this set of pages. If we can understand that history is more than just a set of birth dates of kings & queens, when empires collapsed or the date of a war, then maybe we can see history as our future!
"Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it."
Unfortunately, that is a misquoted or a paraphrase at best. Here is the correct quote:
"Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. 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. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it".
A much longer actual quote but nevertheless has the same kernel of truth as the misquote. His famous quote has over the years multiplied into several different misquotes all around the same general theme:
Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Those who do not remember their past are condemned to repeat their mistakes.
Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it.
Those who fail to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors are destined to repeat them.
Those who do not know history's mistakes are doomed to repeat them.
George Santayana's original philological statement is the core of this set of pages. If we can understand that history is more than just a set of birth dates of kings & queens, when empires collapsed or the date of a war, then maybe we can see history as our future!
