“When it comes to understanding the future, history is bunk (…) There is no place history is heading, except toward the maximum-entropy heat death of the universe.”

Ninth Memoir. On Several Convenient Forms of the Fundamental Equations of the Mechanical Theory of Heat.
The Mechanical Theory of Heat (1867)

Source: Ringworld (1970), p. 142

Transhumanism (1957)
Context: As a result of a thousand million years of evolution, the universe is becoming conscious of itself, able to understand something of its past history and its possible future. This cosmic self-awareness is being realized in one tiny fragment of the universe — in a few of us human beings. Perhaps it has been realized elsewhere too, through the evolution of conscious living creatures on the planets of other stars. But on this our planet, it has never happened before.

History is Bunk, Says Henry Ford, Special to The New York Times, New York Times, October October 29, 1921. p. 1

The Plague (1947)
Context: There always comes a time in history when the person who dares to say that 2+2=4 is punished by death. And the issue is not what reward or what punishment will be the outcome of that reasoning. The issue is simply whether or not 2+2=4.

As quoted in LIFE magazine (December 1988) http://www.humancondition.info/Beyond/ScienceReligion.html

"Pascal’s Sphere" ["La esfera de Pascal"] (1951)
Variant translations: Perhaps universal history is the history of the diverse intonation of some metaphors.
It may be that universal history is the history of the different intonations given a handful of metaphors.
Other Inquisitions (1952)

In the Puppet Theatre: Puppetry, Conspiracy and Ouija Boards (p. 133)
The Soul of the Marionette: A Short Enquiry into Human Freedom (2015)