Rene Descartes says Live Here and Now

"It is good to know something of the customs of various peopls, so as to judge our own more soundly and so as not to think that everything that is contrary to our ways is ridiculous and against reason, as those who have seen nothing have a habit of doing. But when one takes too much time traveling, one eventually becomes a stranger in one's own country; and when one is too curious about what commonly took place in past ages, one usually remains quite ignorant of what is taking place in one's own country. Moreover, fables make one imagine many events to be possible which are not so at all. And even the most accurate histories, if they neither alter nor exaggerate the significance o things in order to render the more worthy of being read, almost always at least omit the baser and less noteworthy details. Consequently, the rest do not appear as they really are, ad those who govern their won conduct by means of exampeld drawn from these texts are liable to fall into the extravagances of the knights of our ramoces and to conceive lans that are beyond their powers. "

Renee Descartes, Discourse on Method