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.

Men do not learn much from the lessons of history and that is the most important of all the lessons of history.

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

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

De Sade is the one completely consistent and thoroughgoing revolutionary of history.

What a gulf between impression and expression! That’s our ironic fate—to have Shakespearean feelings and (unless by some billion-to-one chance we happen to be Shakespeare) to talk about them like automobile salesmen or teen-agers or college professors. We practice alchemy in reverse—touch gold and it turns into lead; touch the pure lyrics of experience, and they turn into the verbal equivalents of tripe and hogwash.