Echoes

Mankind are so much the same, in all times and places, that history informs us of nothing new or strange in this particular. Its chief use is only to discover the constant and universal principles of human nature.

Human nature being what it is, events which happened in the past will at some time or other and in much the same ways be repeated in the future.

Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever shall be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results.

There is nothing new under the sun.

That which comes after ever conforms to that which has gone before.

Everything changes; nothing perishes.

From the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries look down on us.

In the great chain of causes and effects, no single fact can be considered in isolation.

Everything is interaction and reciprocal.

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.

History is only a record of crimes and misfortunes.

It is not truth that makes man great, but man that makes truth great.

Only the great generalizations survive. The sharp words of the Declaration of Independence, lampooned then and since as 'glittering generalities,' have turned out blazing ubiquities that will burn forever and ever.

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man.

Perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages.

It is just as foolish to complain that people are selfish and treacherous as it is to complain that the magnetic field does not increase unless the electric field has a curl. Both are laws of nature.

We face the future with our past and our present as guarantors of our promises; and we are content to stand or to fall by the record which we have made and are making.

I felt before I thought: this is the common lot of humanity.

Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves.

All men by nature desire to know.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

Though business conditions may change, corporations and securities may change, and financial institutions and regulations may change, human nature remains the same. Thus the important and difficult part of sound investment, which hinges upon the investor's own temperament and attitude, is not much affected by the passing years.

I rebel — therefore we exist.

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

It is certain that habit eventually has such power over human nature that it becomes, as it were, a second nature, and forces it to practise that to which it has become accustomed, regardless of whether or not it is good for health.