History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes.

LP · November 5, 2013, 10:10am

Re: History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.

Here is what I came across :

History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.
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This is very often attributed to Mark Twain, but the earliest published source yet located is by Joseph Anthony Wittreich in Feminist Milton (1987) where he writes: “History may not repeat itself but it does rhyme, and every gloss by a deconstructionist need not be a loss, pushing us further into an abyss of skepticism and indeterminacy.”

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Thanks for the info on the lack of sourcing of this quote. If any earlier publications of such a remark are found, please note them. ~ Kalki 23:26, 5 May 2010 (UTC)

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James George Eayrs attributes the quote to Mark Twain as early as 1971 in his book “Diplomacy and its discontents”, page 121: “When Mark Twain declared ‘History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes,’ he went about as far as he could go.” [1]](Diplomacy and Its Discontents - James George Eayrs - Google Books)

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A verse in John Robert Colombo’s poem, “A Said Poem”, published in Neo Poems (1970), reads: “ ‘History never repeats itself but it rhymes,’ said Mark Twain.” In a private communication, Colombo wrote: “Twain’s observation – correction: the observation attributed to Twain – has been around since the 1960s. There is no source for it with which I am familiar.” —KHirsch 02:44, 6 July 2010 (UTC)