Quotation of the Week 7
“History repeats itself. Historians repeat each other.”
Philip Guedalla, Supers and Supermen, 1920.
Love of History | Quotation of the Week 7
Dr. Constantina Katsari is a comparative historian that specialises on ancient and modern history. She looks at current events with a critical eye and brings forward direct comparisons with similar historical events.
Both elements of this quotation are sadly true, yet inevitable. History repeating itself, however, may provide opportunities for new solutions. And I like to think that historians repeating each other, as long as they are honest about it and add somthing of themselves, is all part of a debate aimed at understanding ourselves and the world a little better.
Whether or not History repeats itself will never be answered. I personally think it does, but I admit that it will take a superior intellect than mine to find where an old circle closes and a new one opens. Anyway, Thucydides probably believed that History repeats itself, and therefore so do I.
As for scholars repeating each other, I thought only students could be found guilty of plagiarizing! But then again, pretty much everything there is to be said, has already been said, so…