[Ads-l] History rhyming again

[Laurence Horn]

From today’s obituary for Lewis Lapham of Harper’s Magazine fame:

“The idea was to bring the voices of the past up to the microphone of the present,” Mr. Lapham told The New York Times in 2009 when asked about his magazine’s mission. “History doesn’t repeat itself,” he said, “but it rhymes.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/24/business/media/lewis-h-lapham-dead.html <https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/24/business/media/lewis-h-lapham-dead.html>

It seems to me I’ve encountered this one with some regularity, and on Googling it I find that it’s one of the many that have been unable to resist the pull of the Mark Twain quote magnet. Indeed, Lapham himself credited Twain for the apothegm. But Garson has it covered:

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/01/12/history-rhymes/ <https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/01/12/history-rhymes/>

As with so many quotes, this one has gradually evolved into a more memorable and eloquent form over the decades.  Survival of the glibbest?

LH
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