Mark Twain Quotes

History never exactly repeats itself, but it does some rather good impressions.

History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.

History repeats itself. So you might wanna pay attention.

They say history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes.

Studying the past may suggest new ways of going wrong.

Everyone who wants to know what will happen ought to examine what has happened: everything in this world in any epoch has their replicas in antiquity.

History repeats herself.

I'm not trying to say that we're facing or looking at a likely repeat of history. It would be great if we were.

History does not so much repeat as echo, I suppose.

This is the lesson that history teaches: repetition.

History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.

I feel slightly uneasy at the way historians are consulted as if history is going to repeat itself. It never does.

Those who have heard me speak from time to time know that quite often I cite the observation of that great American author, Mark Twain, who said, history does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.

I'm a storyteller; that is what I do. And I'm particularly interested in history; and in history of a certain era. But what is interesting for me is how many, how many things you see repeated.

If we compare the present time with former ages, we find that the same tendencies and desires have at all times governed states and peoples.

Everything that happens today is like something in the past, but it's also unlike things in the past. We never know until an event happens if it's the similarities or differences that matter more.

History rarely repeats itself, but its echoes never go away.

I think certain periods of history don't get dealt with because I think historians, and it's their job, but they look back and look for patterns. They look for sequences and they look for reasons, and certain periods of history don't fit with the general pattern of 1500 to the 20th century, during which there's the creation of the United States.

Ultimately, a real understanding of history means that we face nothing new under the sun.

History, we know, is apt to repeat itself, and to foist very old incidents upon us with only a slight change of costume.

The comfortable thing about the study of history is that it inclines us to think hopefully of our own times.

History gives us a kind of chart, and we dare not surrender even a small rushlight in the darkness. The hasty reformer who does not remember the past will find himself condemned to repeat it.

History, we know, is apt to repeat itself.

I think it's despicable. I also think it's frightening that we seem to live through history over and over again. And I don't know if I'm the only one. I feel like, when you read through history books, you always judge those people in that time.

It is difficult at times to repress the thought that history is about as instructive as an abattoir.