"The possibility of saying anything about a thing rests on the assumption that it preserves its identity, or continues to be the same thing in the respect described, that it will behave in future situations as it has in past"

This quote by Frank Knight recommends that in order to make any statement about a thing, we should presume that it will stay the same in the future as it has actually been in the past. This means that we need to presume that the thing will preserve its identity which it will act in future scenarios in the exact same method it has in the past. This is a crucial principle in economics, as it permits us to make forecasts about the future based upon past data. It likewise indicates that the future is not entirely unforeseeable, as we can make assumptions about how a thing will act in the future based on how it has actually acted in the past. This quote highlights the significance of understanding the past in order to make predictions about the future.