After being asked this question on several occassions I found some witty quotes pertaining to this exact issue that I would like to share with you.
The history of the world is but the biography of great men.- THOMAS CARLYLE, Heroes and Hero-Worship, The Hero as Divinity
History ... is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.- EDWARD GIBBON, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illumines reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life and brings us tidings of antiquity. -CICERO, Pro Publio Sestio (BY THE WAY, CICERO WAS A FAMOUS ROMAN ORATOR [SPEAKER] AND WAS PRESENT AT THE ASSASINATION OF CAESER)
To remain ignorant of things that happened before you were born is to remain a child. -CICERO
What experience and history teach is this -- that people and governments never have learned anything from history or acted on the principles deduced from it. -G.W.F. HEGEL, Philosophy of History