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About this quote

What does it mean?
The past cannot reliably predict the future because conditions change.
In plain terms
You cannot use the past to plan the future.
What can you take from it?
Past patterns do not guarantee future outcomes.

Where it applies

  • strategic planning
  • historical analysis

Putting it to work

  • avoid rigid forecasting

Questions to consider

  • How much can we learn from history?

Another view

Some trends do persist across time.

More from Edmund Burke

  1. They made and recorded a sort of institute and digest of anarchy, called the Rights of Man.

    Permalink to quote #19
  2. Tyrants seldom want pretexts.

    Permalink to quote #21
  3. Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither, in my opinion, is safe.

    Permalink to quote #18

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