Knowledge Of The Past Quotes by C. S. Lewis, John James Cowperthwaite, Buzz Aldrin, Richard Whately, Lord Acton, Alfred North Whitehead and many others.

Most of all, perhaps, we need an intimate knowledge of the past. Not that the past has anything magical about it, but we cannot study the future.
I am afraid that I do not believe that any body of men can have enough knowledge of the past, the present and the future to establish “development priorities” – which presumably means procuring some developments as being good and prohibiting others as being bad.
Knowledge of the past and an optimistic view of the present give you great opportunities.
It may be said, almost without qualification, that true wisdom consists in the ready and accurate perception of analogies. Without the former quality, knowledge of the past is unobstructive: without the latter it is deceptive.
The science of politics is the one science that is deposited by the streams of history, like the grains of gold in the sand of a river; and the knowledge of the past, the record of truths revealed by experience, is eminently practical, as an instrument of action and a power that goes to making the future.
The only use of a knowledge of the past is to equip us for the present. The present contains all that there is. It is holy ground; for it is the past, and it is the future.
The ability to think straight, some knowledge of the past, some vision of the future, some urge to fit that service into the well-being of the community – these are the most vital things that education must try to produce.
Trust God’s love. His perfect love. Don’t fear He will discover your past. He already has. Don’t fear disappointing Him in the future. He can show you the chapter in which you will. With perfect knowledge of the past and perfect vision of the future, He loves you perfectly in spite of both.
With the historian it is an article of faith that knowledge of the past is a key to understanding the present.
A healthy vision of the future is not possible without an accurate knowledge of the past.
If the past has been an obstacle and a burden, knowledge of the past is the safest and the surest emancipation.
The knowledge of the past times and of the places of the earth is both an ornament and nutriment to the human mind.
Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
An accurate knowledge of the past of a country is necessary for everyone who would understand its present, and who desires to judge of its future.
The past is important for all the information and wisdom it holds. But you can get lost in it. You’ve got to learn to keep the knowledge of the past with you as you pursue the present.
The only use of knowledge of the past is to equip us for the present.
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.