Famous quotations and quotes about learning from history

When it comes to the possibilities of 'learning from history' there are many things we could aspire to learn. This list of famous quotations and quotes about 'learning from history' curated by the Typerse review team begins with expressing some disillusionment about humanity's all-too-frequent failure at actually learning from history or the past mistakes of history.

"We spend a great deal of time studying history, which, let's face it, is mostly the history of stupidity."

Stephen Hawking

"Rulers, Statesmen, Nations, are wont to be emphatically commended to the teaching which experience offers in history. But what experience and history teach is this - that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it. Each period is involved in such peculiar circumstances, exhibits a condition of things so strictly idiosyncratic, that its conduct must be regulated by considerations connected with itself, and itself alone."

G. W. F. Hegel

"We learn from history that we learn nothing from history."

George Bernard Shaw

"We can learn from history, but we can also deceive ourselves when we selectively take evidence from the past to justify what we have already made up our minds to do."

Margaret MacMillan

"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

George Santayana

"Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it."

Winston Churchill

"Human nature will not change. In any future great national trial, compared with the men of this, we shall have as weak and as strong, as silly and as wise, as bad and as good. Let us therefore study the incidents in this as philosophy to learn wisdom from and none of them as wrongs to be avenged."

Abraham Lincoln (in the context of The American Civil War of 1861 to 1865)

For more great historical content, check out Typerse today.

Inspiring Quotes From the Most Successful People in History

Whenever you're struggling to get things done, turn to this list of quotes curated by the Typerse review team for the inspiration and motivation you need to be the best you can be.

1. "Success is most often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable." -- Coco Chanel

2. "Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out." -- John Wooden

3. "Courage is grace under pressure." -- Ernest Hemingway

4. "If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary." -- Jim Rohn

5. "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning." -- Albert Einstein

6. "Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life -- think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success." -- Swami Vivekananda

7. "Sometimes you can't see yourself clearly until you see yourself through the eyes of others." -- Ellen DeGeneres

8. "All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them." -- Walt Disney

9. "It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop." -- Confucius

10. "Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." -- Winston Churchill

11. "Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago." -- Warren Buffett

12. "Whenever you see a successful person, you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them." -- Vaibhav Shah

13. "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." -- Dr. Seuss

14. "Success? I don't know what that word means. I'm happy. But success, that goes back to what in somebody's eyes success means. For me, success is inner peace. That's a good day for me." -- Denzel Washington

15. "You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough." -- Mae West

For more great history content, head over to Typerse today.

Quotes About Learning From History

You might’ve heard the old saying that goes, if we don’t learn from history, we are destined to repeat it. And history shows us that, in a lot of ways, this is true. Here are some of the best quotes about learning from history, curated by the Typerse review team.

“We learn from history that we don’t learn from history!” – Desmond Tutu

“Life moves fast. As much as you can, learn from your history, you have to move forward.” – Eddie Vedder

“The man who has no sense of history, is like a man who has no ears or eyes.” – Adolf Hitler

“History laughs at both the victim and the aggressor.” – Mahmoud Darwish

“Patriotism ruins history.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history.” – Plato

“Difficulty is the excuse history never accepts.” – Edward Murrow

“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” – Edmund Burke

“History is written by the victors.” – Winston Churchill

“What experience and history teach is this – that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles.” – George Wilhelm Hegel

“The charm of history and its enigmatic lesson consist in the fact that, from age to age, nothing changes and yet everything is completely different.” – Aldous Huxley “A generation which ignores history has no past – and no future.” – Robert A. Heinlein

“We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.” – George Bernard Shaw

“History shows you don’t know what the future brings.” – Rick Wagoner

“To communicate the truths of history is an act of hope for the future.” – Daisaku Ikeda

“I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know no way of judging of the future but by the past.” – Edward Gibbon

“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.” – Bar Rafaeli

“If you think you have it tough, read history books. “ – Bill Maher

“If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.” – George Bernard Shaw

“One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say.” – Will Durant

For more great history content, check out Typerse today.

History quotes to inspire you

There are many valuable lessons that we can learn from studying history, whether our own or the history of somewhere, or someone, entirely different, and here are some of the most inspirational quotes curated by the Typerse review team.

“I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also, much more than that. So are we all.” – James Baldwin

“Anybody can make history. Only a great man can write it.” – Oscar Wilde

“I believe that we must maintain pride in the knowledge that the actions we take, based on our own decisions and choices as individuals, link directly to the magnificent challenge of transforming human history.” – Daisaku Ikeda

“History is who we are and why we are the way we are.” – David McCullough

“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” – George Orwell

“The historic ascent of humanity, taken as a whole, may be summarized as a succession of victories of consciousness over blind forces – in nature, in society, in man himself.” – Leon Trotsky

“Optimists are usually wrong. But all the great change in history, positive change, was done by optimists.” – Thomas Friedman

“People have an annoying habit of remembering things they shouldn’t.” – Christopher Paolini

“History of the world is the biography of the great man. And I said: The great man always act like a thunder. He storms the skies, while others are waiting to be stormed.” – Thomas Carlyle

“History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

“After making a mistake or suffering a misfortune, the man of genius always gets back on his feet.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

“History is a people’s memory, and without a memory, man is demoted to the lower animals.” – Malcolm X

“We are not makers of history. We are made by history.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

“The past changes a little every time we retell it.” – Hilary Mantel

“Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both.” – C. Wright Mills

“Fear not for the future, weep not for the past.” – Percy Bysshe Shelley

“History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.” – B.C. Forbes

“We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today.” – Henry Ford

“People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.” – James Baldwin

“The main thing is to make history, not to write it.” – Otto von Bismarck

“Never doubt that you can change history. You already have.” – Marge Piercy

“The best prophet of the future is the past.” – Lord Byron

“History does nothing; it does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is men, real, living, who do all this.” – Karl Marx

“A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.” – Mahatma Gandhi

For more great history content, check out Typerse today.

Funny History Books For Kids

If there is one thing that can bore children more than anything else it’s subjects that fail to capture their imagination. Many history books, while full of useful information, are not geared for children to absorb. This is why there are now more books that take a more humorous angle on history. Here are some of the funny history books that you can find today on sites like Typerse.

American History Collection by Jean Fritz

Lean Fritz has written many books on history for all school ages. Her easy style of writing and humour has made her a favorite with children young and old. She also writes about her own experiences living in China during the civil war. This book is available on Typerse.

History News Series by Various Authors

These funny and clever books are written like a present day newspaper that is reporting on these events in history. They draw in the children to the world in question, and don’t get too weighed down in complicated conclusions. It is certainly a book that kids will enjoy reading.

Kid Legends Series by David Stabler, illustrated by Doogie Horner

It can be easy to forget that many of the great leaders in the world were once young kids themselves. This book looks to change that by revealing what presidents and other historical figures were once like as children.

To find more funny books on history for kids, check out the library at Typerse.

New History Books Coming in 2021

You might think that there cannot be much more about history that needs to be told. However, there are always new theories and conclusions that come to light and there is always someone who will want to share it. Typerse already has a number of informative history books, but here are some of the new history books coming in 2021.

A History of the Twentieth Century by Martin Gilbert

Martin Gilbert is an authority on history, but you might not have the time to read his multi-volume book on A History of the Twentieth Century. So, this book has a lot of that information condensed into one book. It is ideal if you only want the basic facts, or you are trying to find a specific event.

The History of the Ancient World by Susan Wise Bauer

Although this book fills out to nearly 900 pages, it is a condensed version of the ancient world. It looks at the early civilisations such as the Romans, Egypt, India and China. You won’t find the most detailed description of each war or major player in history, but you will see enough to give you an overview. This book will be available on sites like Typerse.

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

This book doesn’t look at specific events as such. It looks into how disease, technology and even luck played a part in winning or losing campaigns. It also delves into how one areas better agriculture helped them and hindered others that they would encounter.

To read more books coming in 2021, check out Typerse.

The History of the World in Dumb Jokes

Were you bored silly in civics class? Then you’ll love laughing at Socrates, Lincoln, Caesar, and more with these jokes curated by the Typerse review team.

Jurassic Period: Dinosaurs

Q: Why can’t you hear a pterodactyl go to the bathroom?

A: Because the pee is silent.

1323 BC: King Tutankhamen Dies

Q: Why was King Tut so irresistible?

A: It was his pharaohmones.

Circa 469 BC: The Birth of Western Philosophy

Q: Who was Socrates’s worst student?

A: Mediocrities.

Q: Who was his busiest student?

A: The one with a lot on his Plato.

221 BC: China Begins Construction On an Enormous Fortification

Q: Why did Mark Zuckerberg visit Beijing?

A: To see the Great Firewall.

27 BC to AD 476: The Roman Empire

Q: What did Caesar say when his friend asked how many oranges he’d had?

A: “Et two, Brute.”

5th Century to 15th Century: The Middle Ages

Q: Who was the roundest knight at King Arthur’s Round Table?

A: Sir Cumference.

6th Century: First Great Mayan City Reaches Its Peak

“Knock, knock!”

“Who’s there?”

“A Mayan.”

“A Mayan who?”

“A Mayan the way?”

Circa 1275: Europe Meets Asia

Q: Which explorer was the best at hide-and-seek?

A: Marco Polo.

1492: Christopher Columbus Comes to America

Q: What vegetable did Columbus not want on his ship?

A: A leek.

1509: A New Tudor King Is Crowned

Q: Who invented fractions?

A: Henry the 1/8th.

1620: The Mayflower Arrives at Plymouth Harbor

Q: What did one turkey say to the other when they saw the Pilgrims?

A: They look nice. Maybe they’ll have us over for dinner.

1687: Sir Isaac Newton Publishes His Landmark Book on Physics

Q: What did Newton’s doctor tell him when the apple fell on his head?

A: “I don’t think you understand the gravity of this situation.”

1775: The American Revolution

Q: Who yelled, “Coming are British the”?

A: Paul Reverse.

For plenty more humour, check out the great content at Typerse today.