Full Idea
We study history not to know the future but to widen our horizons, to understand that our present situation is neither natural nor inevitable, and the we consequently have many more possibilities before us than we can imagine.
Gist of Idea
History teaches us that the present was not inevitable, and shows us the possibilities
Source
Yuval Noah Harari (Sapiens: brief history of humankind [2014], 13 'Hindsight')
Book Reference
Harari,Yuval Noah: 'Sapiens: a brief history of Humankind' [Vintage 2014], p.269
A Reaction
On the whole winners forget history, and losers are branded through and through with it. If you don't know history, you can never understand the latter group.