"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.""
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Film directors from the United StatesPeople from New York (state)Jews from the United StatesEdgar Award winners
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Source: The Grump (no. 1)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Errol_Morris
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Errol Morris
15 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Errol Morris →
Related Quotes
"I am profoundly skeptical about our abilities to predict the future in general, and human behavior in particular."
"Listening to what people were saying wasn't even important. But it was important to look as if you were listening to …"
"Correct me if I'm wrong here, but truth is something that arises out of the relationship between language and the wor…"
"You know, I have this version of the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. God, in expelling Adam and Eve, kind of felt …"
"The pursuit of truth, properly considered, shouldn't stop short of insanity."
"The proper route to an understanding of the world is an examination of our errors about it."
"I like the idea of making films about ostensibly absolutely nothing. I like the irrelevant, the tangential, the sideb…"
"I believe that we face incredible obstacles in our attempts to see the world. Everything in our nature tries to deny …"
"I believe that historical analogies are always wrong. This a long discussion, but, to me, the most dangerous thing ab…"
"I like to think of myself as the ultimate anti-postmodernist post-modernist. Notwithstanding the unusual narrative or…"