Who said?

I've been thinking about this quote - I'm sure you've heard it multiple times:

"Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it"

I Googled this quote and found these links:

Barleby.com

"Studying history is necessary to avoid repeating past mistakes. This saying comes from the writings of George Santayana, a Spanish-born American author of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries."


Barleby.com

QUOTATION: Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
ATTRIBUTION: George Santayana (1863–1952), U.S. philosopher, poet. Life of Reason, “Reason in Common Sense,” ch. 12 (1905-6).

William L. Shirer made these words the epigraph for his Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1959)

Jaywalker.ca

A quick search on the Internet repeatedly bumps into the famous George Santayana quote “those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it”. Yet the ‘net contradictorily informs us that he actually said “those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it”. Not to miss any angle, the Misinformation Superhighway quotes poor, tired, old George as having said “those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it”.

Of course, cypherspace has a few other versions of this quote that offer condemnation instead of doom, such as “those who forget history are condemned to repeat it” and “those who don’t learn from history are condemned to repeat it”. Finally, for the historically unaware, the digital world serves up “those who are ignorant of history are condemned to repeat it”.

Wiki: George Santayana

A lifelong Spanish citizen, Santayana was raised and educated in the United States, wrote in English and is generally considered an American man of letters, although, of his nearly 89 years, he spent only 39 in the U.S. He is perhaps best known as an aphorist, and for the oft-misquoted remark, "Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it," from Reason in Common Sense, the first volume of his The Life of Reason.

More Santayana quotes

“Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim.”

“Love makes us poets, and the approach of death should make us philosophers.”

“Fun is a good thing, but only when it spoils nothing better.”