Gerda Lerner - We can learn from history how past generations thought and acted, how they

We can learn from history how past generations thought and acted, how they responded to the demands of their time and how they solved their problems. We can learn by analogy, not by example, for our circumstances will always be different than theirs were. The main thing history can teach us is that human actions have consequences and that certain choices, once made, cannot be undone. They foreclose the possibility of making other choices and thus they determine future events.

- Gerda Lerner

source: Gerda Lerner (1998). “Why History Matters: Life and Thought”, p.205, Oxford University Press on Demand

topic: Knowledge, Past, Choices, Past Generations, Future Events, Actions Have Consequences, Human Actions