Quote Origin: We Learn From History That We Do Not Learn From History

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Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel? Aldous Huxley? George Bernard Shaw? Henry Tizard? Caroline Thomas Harnsberger? Apocryphal?

Picture of ancient ruins from Unsplash

Question for Quote Investigator: The historical record displays clear patterns, yet there is enormous resistance to learning from these patterns. Here are two versions of a humorously contradictory adage:

(1) We learn from history that we do not learn from history.

(2) We learn from experience that people never learn anything from experience.

This notion has been attributed to German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, English writer Aldous Huxley, and Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. Would you please help me to find solid citations?

Reply from Quote Investigator: In the early decades of the 1800s  Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel delivered a series of lectures which were collected and published posthumously under the title “Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der Geschichte” (“Lectures on the Philosophy of History”). The 1837 edition contained the following passage. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1

Man verweist Regenten, Staatsmänner, Völker vornehmlich an die Belehrung durch die Erfahrung der Geschichte. Was die Erfahrung aber und die Geschichte lehren ist dieses daß Völker und Regierungen niemals etwas aus der Geschichte gelernt und nach Lehren, die aus derselben zu ziehen gewesen wären, gehandelt hätten.

Here is one possible translation into English:

Rulers, statesmen and peoples are primarily referred to the lessons of historical experience. But what experience and history teach is that nations and governments have never learned anything from history and have never acted in accordance with the lessons that could have been drawn from it.

The popular modern saying under examination is a condensed and simplified version of the statement crafted by Hegel before his death in 1831.

Aldous Huxley and George Bernard Shaw both penned statements in this family of sayings which are presented further below.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

In 1913 an unnamed writer in “The New Statesman” of London credited Hegel with a shortened version of the saying using the word “experience”:2

But what has happened only confirms the Hegelian bull that we learn from experience that men never learn anything from experience.

In 1922 a business periodical titled “The American Elevator and Grain Trade” of Chicago, Illinois credited Hegel with a shortened saying using the word “history”:3

As the philosopher Hegel remarked, “History teaches us that we do not learn from history.”

In 1947 English inventor Henry Tizard employed an anonymous instance of the saying:4

In these difficult times people are peering anxiously into the future. Can we learn anything from history? It has been said that we learn from history that we do not learn from history.

In 1949 “The Dictionary of Humorous Quotations” compiled by Evan Esar included the following entry:5

HEGEL, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770-1831, German philosopher.
We learn from history that we do not learn from history.

Also, in 1949 writer Stephen Winsten edited and published “The Quintessence Of G.B.S.: The Wit and Wisdom of Bernard Shaw”. Winsten credited George Bernard Shaw with a version of the saying that matched the 1913 instance presented previously. Winsten indicated that the saying appeared in a letter written by Shaw, but Winsten did not provide any further details:6

EXPERIENCE
We learn from experience that men never learn anything from experience.
Letter

In 1956 “Esquire” magazine published an essay by Aldous Huxley titled “A Case of Voluntary Ignorance” which began with the following sentence:7

That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.

In 1959 the “Esquire” piece was reprinted in “Collected Essays” by Aldous Huxley. Thus, Huxley’s version of the saying achieved further distribution.8

In 1965 Caroline Thomas Harnsberger published the compilation “Bernard Shaw: Selections of His Wit and Wisdom” which credited Shaw with the saying while pointing to Winsten’s book:9

We learn from experience that men never learn anything from experience.
—Winsten, Quintessence, p. 333

In 1984 “The Cynic’s Lexicon” compiled by Jonathon Green contained the following entry:10

ALDOUS HUXLEY 1894-1963 British writer
That men do not learn very much from history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.
Collected Essays, 1959

In 2000 the “Random House Webster’s Wit & Humor Quotationary” included the following entry:11

GEORG HEGEL (1770-1831). German philosopher
We learn from history that we do not learn from history.

In conclusion, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel deserves credit for the statement that appeared in the “Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der Geschichte”. During subsequent years Hegel’s statement has been shortened and simplified to generate a family of sayings. There is substantive evidence that George Bernard Shaw employed an instance which appeared in the 1949 compilation titled “The Quintessence Of G.B.S.” Also, Aldous Huxley employed an instance in a 1956 essay.

Image Notes: Picture of ancient ruins from whoisdenilo at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized.

Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Jane Bella whose message led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Thanks also to the volunteer editors of the Wikiquote website.

  1. 1837, Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der Geschichte (Lectures on the Philosophy of History) by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Herausgegeben von (Edited by) D Eduard Gans, Neunter Band (Volume Nine), Quote Page 9, Verlag von Duncker und Humblot  (Duncker and Humblot Berlin Publishing House), Berlin, Germany. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  2. 1913 April 26, The New Statesman, Volume 1, Number 3, Comments, Start Page 65, Quote Page 68, Column 2, The Statesman Publishing Company Ltd., London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  3. 1922 February 15, The American Elevator and Grain Trade, Volume 40, Number 8, Editorial Mention, Quote Page 584, Column 1, Mitchell Brothers Publishing, Chicago, Illinois. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  4. 1947 June, Bulletin of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, Report of Speeches at the Annual Dinner held on Thursday 1st May 1947, Speech by Sir Henry Tizard, Start Page 5, Quote Page 6, Published by the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  5. 1949 Copyright, The Dictionary of Humorous Quotations, Edited by Evan Esar, Section: Georg Hegel, Quote Page 88, Bramhall House, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  6. 1949, The Quintessence Of G.B.S.: The Wit and Wisdom of Bernard Shaw, Edited by Stephen Winsten, Chapter: Bear in Mind, Quote Page 333, Creative Age Press, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  7. 1956 October, Esquire, Volume 47, Number 4, A Case of Voluntary Ignorance by Aldous Huxley, Start Page 47, Quote Page 47, Column 1, Esquire Inc., Chicago, Illinois. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  8. 1959, Collected Essays by Aldous Huxley, Essay: A Case of Voluntary Ignorance, (From Esquire Magazine), Start Page 308, Quote Page 308, Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  9. 1965, Bernard Shaw: Selections of His Wit and Wisdom, Compiled by Caroline Thomas Harnsberger, Topic: Experience, Quote Page 108, Follett Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  10. 1984, The Cynic’s Lexicon, Compiled by Jonathon Green, Section: Aldous Huxley, Quote Page 98, St. Martin’s Press, New York. (Verified on paper) ↩︎
  11. 2000, Random House Webster’s Wit & Humor Quotationary, Edited by Leonard Roy Frank, Person: Georg Hegel, Quote Page 109, Random House, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎