(no subject)

[randomness]

"Santayana’s aphorism about history’s repeating itself has a limit: while we’re busy avoiding this or that thing from our past, the next thing is sneaking up on us. The great Yale scholar Paul de Man spoke of it as “blindness and insight”—our very insights blind us to something else, which turns out to be the thing we most needed to see."

Comments

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

On That Mailing List, rmd once responded to the Santayana quote by saying "Why, just this morning I found myself re-enacting the Battle of Hastings over breakfast. I hate it when that happens."

[redbird]

This is, I think, connected to the saying about generals always being ready to fight the last war.

[amelia-g.livejournal.com]

I think it is specifically French generals, but I can't quite recall the context.

[redbird]

I would guess the original reference had to do with invading German armies, but the comment certainly came up quite a bit with the Iraq wars and the ways people in the U.S. seemed to be using a script that said "Vietnam."

[amelia-g.livejournal.com]

Now there's a keep you from falling asleep at 3am aphorism.