# Consider the past and you will know the future



## Senordineroman

At the university conference in Shanghai recently, President Obama said that there is a Chinese proverb which says, "Consider the past and you will know the future." 

How do you say that in Chinese?


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## BODYholic

前车之鉴?

Posted via mobile.


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## Senordineroman

"?"

I don't know!  I'm asking YOU!


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## samanthalee

"Consider the past and you will know the future." 

Chinese idiom: 溫故知新


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## Ghabi

There can be many possibilities for such a common idea without any particular imagery. And of course it doesn't has to be Chinese. And, with all due respect, I'm not so sure that Mr. President knew which particular saying he's referring to.

Edit: Samantha's suggestion seems to be the most probable one.


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## kath_01

"溫故而知新"
http://big5.chinanews.com.cn:89/gn/news/2009/11-16/1966646.shtml
http://www.cna.com.tw/ShowNews/Detail.aspx?pNewsID=200911160138
http://big5.ce.cn/gate/big5/intl.ce.cn/zgysj/200911/24/t20091124_20490093.shtml

This is the proverb (from Confucius) most media refers to, 
although the meaning is more like : "to study the past, and to acquire new knowledge or new insight from it. "
in my opinion, it's kinda different than "to consider/study the past , and you'll know the future"

前车之鉴 seems to be just "learn from the past"


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## Ghabi

kath_01 said:


> although the meaning is more like : "to study the past, and to acquire new knowledge or new insight from it. "
> in my opinion, it's kinda different than "to consider/study the past , and you'll know the future"


Traditionally, the saying is taken as "to revise what you've already known and to acquire what you don't know" ("from it" would be over-interpretation from the philological point of view). 正義曰：此章言為師之法。溫，尋也。言舊所學得者，溫尋使不忘，是溫故也。素所未知，學使知之，是知新也。既溫尋故者，又知新者，則可以為人師矣。


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## BODYholic

ChrisCashman said:


> "?"
> 
> I don't know!  I'm asking YOU!



Please be polite. You don't have to shout even if you don't know what I've given. 

Use an online dictionary to look for the meaning and see if it matches Obama's speech which I have the faintest idea. 

I love to spoodfeed spoon feed you but I'm posting via mobile which handicapped me a lot.

There is an English explaination of 前车之鉴 at zdic.net. Please help yourself.   

Posted via mobile

Edited: http://www.zdic.net/cd/ci/9/ZdicE5Zdic89Zdic8D299468.htm


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## kath_01

Ghabi said:


> Traditionally, the saying is taken as "to revise what you've already known and to acquire what you don't know" ("from it" would be over-interpretation from the philological point of view). 正義曰：此章言為師之法。溫，尋也。言舊所學得者，溫尋使不忘，是溫故也。素所未知，學使知之，是知新也。既溫尋故者，又知新者，則可以為人師矣。




Yes, You're right,  
also, I always thought 溫故知新" is the learning attitute that:
"while one needs to revise the past, one also has to learn the new knowledge"

but then a lot of descriptions I found, seems to say:
溫習過去所學，從中獲得新的知識和體會
which also make sense if the sentence is 溫故而知新 (even if this is not the official saying frm Confusious), 
also this might fit the description of "considering the past, and you will know the future"

That's why I added "from it" : acquire new insight by revising the past. 

but Thanks for pointing it out


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## Geysere

You can also say "以史为鉴，可以知兴替" but I think it's mainly used to describe major political events and not personal growth. 
Source: http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/30492598.html


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## Jerry Chan

Geysere said:


> You can also say "以史为鉴，可以知兴替" but I think it's mainly used to describe major political events and not personal growth.
> Source: http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/30492598.html



I think this is great. A country, a company or even a person all has its 興替 and we gain insight from learning the past.
A simpler saying will be 鑒古知今


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## BODYholic

Jerry Chan said:


> A simpler saying will be 鑒古知今



Perfect.


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## AVim

鉴往知来 or  数往知来
http://baike.baidu.com/view/73018.html


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## Senordineroman

BODYholic said:


> Please be polite. You don't have to shout even if you don't know what I've given.
> 
> Use an online dictionary to look for the meaning and see if it matches Obama's speech which I have the faintest idea.
> 
> I love to spoodfeed spoon feed you but I'm posting via mobile which handicapped me a lot.
> 
> There is an English explaination of 前车之鉴 at zdic.net. Please help yourself.
> 
> Posted via mobile
> 
> Edited: http://www.zdic.net/cd/ci/9/ZdicE5Zdic89Zdic8D299468.htm



Eeeeeasy.  I'm not shouting.  Man -- it's hard to get across a tone of voice over the Internet. 

Thanks for the input.


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## Ghabi

kath_01 said:


> but then a lot of descriptions I found, seems to say:
> 溫習過去所學，從中獲得新的知識和體會
> which also make sense if the sentence is 溫故而知新 (even if this is not the official saying frm Confusious),
> also this might fit the description of "considering the past, and you will know the future"


Of course you're right, dear Kath (I just pointed that out in case someone's interested to know what the saying means in its original context). Sorry for sounding nitpicking (I didn't mean to, I should have phrased my post better).


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## cheehui

I would say that it is 温故知新.


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