Santayana's aphorism must be reversed: too often it is those who can remember the past who are condemned to repeat it.
--
The Bitter Heritage: Vietnam and American Democracy (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1966) p. 91Arthur M. Schlesinger
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Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Really? Human nature being what it is, isn't it hopeless to expect that we can do better regardless of whether we remember anything or not? And what if what we remember leads us to false analogies and misunderstandings? I prefer: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it without a sense of ironic futility." Or how about this: "Those who cannot condemn the past repeat it in order to remember it."
Errol Morris
Santayana was probably wrong when he said that those who forget the past are condemned to relive it. Those who remember are condemned to relive it too.
Clive James
I've got news for Mr. Santayana: we're doomed to repeat the past no matter what. That's what it is to be alive.
Kurt Vonnegut
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.
George Santayana
In my vision, I aim not to repeat the mistakes of the past, but to forge a new path. To repeat the mistakes of the past is to cease to evolve.
Doctor Steel
Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr.
Schmeling, Max
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