--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There might be a fact of the greatest…" description: "\"There might be a fact of the greatest significance reported by Thucydides which will only be recognized as such a hundred years from now.\" — Jacob Burc..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/edd/jacob-burckhardt-27446_facts_there-might-be-a-fact-of-the-greatest-si_1459030.jpg" --- # There might be a fact of the greatest significance… ![“There might be a fact of the greatest significance reported by Thucydides which will only be recognized as such a hundred years from now.” quote by Jacob Burckhardt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/edd/jacob-burckhardt-27446_facts_there-might-be-a-fact-of-the-greatest-si_1459030.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/edd/jacob-burckhardt-27446_facts_there-might-be-a-fact-of-the-greatest-si_1459030.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/edd/jacob-burckhardt-27446_facts_there-might-be-a-fact-of-the-greatest-si_1459030.jpg) > “There might be a fact of the greatest significance reported by Thucydides which will only be recognized as such a hundred years from now.” [Jacob Burckhardt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-burckhardt/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A future‑significant fact may be overlooked until a century later. **In simple terms:** Important facts can be missed for long periods. Key Takeaway Recognize and record current events carefully. Themes history recognition patience Mood reflective analytical Type historical philosophical When to use this quote - academic research - policy analysis - media reporting - archival work Key Concepts historiography long‑term perspective Questions to Reflect On - How might we identify potentially pivotal events today? - What criteria determine lasting significance? A Different Perspective Future significance is hard to predict; not all facts become important. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) [Greatest Significance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatest-significance-1382715/) [Hundred](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hundred/) [Might](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/might/) [Reported Thucydides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reported-thucydides-5266571/) [Significance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/significance/) [Significance Reported](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/significance-reported-5266572/) [Thucydides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thucydides-508298/) [Thucydides Recognized](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thucydides-recognized-5266570/) [Years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/years/) ## Related quotes > [“To be sure, there were still a lot of people against us, but the very intensity of the fight over the meaning of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janne-teller/to-be-sure-there-were-still-a-lot-of-people-against-us-but-the-very/) [Janne Teller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janne-teller/) > [“Our relationship to the past is marked by deep indifference, even if we do say something to the contrary, even if we mean what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dag-solstad/our-relationship-to-the-past-is-marked-by-deep-indifference-even-if/) [Dag Solstad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dag-solstad/) > [Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the history of the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians, he began at the moment that it broke out,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thucydides/thucydides-an-athenian-wrote-the-history-of-the-war-between-the/) [Thucydides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thucydides/) > [“To escape Thucydides’s Trap, we must be willing to think the unthinkable—and imagine the unimaginable. 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Burton Howard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-burton-howard/) > [The writer who is a mother should, I think, record everything she can: make notes, keep journals, take photographs, use a tape recorder, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alicia-ostriker/the-writer-who-is-a-mother-should-i-think-record-everything-she-can/) [Alicia Ostriker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alicia-ostriker/) > [If we weigh the significance of a book by the effect it has on its readers, then the great children's books suddenly turn up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-miller/if-we-weigh-the-significance-of-a-book-by-the-effect-it-has-on-its/) [Laura Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-miller/) > [Free agency is a gift of God…The world does not comprehend the significance of that divine gift to the individual. It is as inherent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-o-mckay/free-agency-is-a-gift-of-god-the-world-does-not-comprehend-the/) [David O. 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In the wide ocean upon which we venture, the possible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-burckhardt/to-each-eye-perhaps-the-outlines-of-a-great-civilization-present-a/) [Jacob Burckhardt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-burckhardt/) > [The essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-burckhardt/the-essence-of-tyranny-is-the-denial-of-complexity/) [Jacob Burckhardt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-burckhardt/) > [Great men are necessary for our life, in order that the movement of world history can free itself sporadically, by fits and starts, from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-burckhardt/great-men-are-necessary-for-our-life-in-order-that-the-movement-of/) [Jacob Burckhardt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-burckhardt/) > [Only a fairy tale calls a constant condition 'happiness'.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-burckhardt/only-a-fairy-tale-calls-a-constant-condition-happiness/) [Jacob Burckhardt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-burckhardt/) > [The seventeenth century is everywhere a time in which the state's power over everything individual increases, whether that power be in absolutist hands or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-burckhardt/the-seventeenth-century-is-everywhere-a-time-in-which-the-state-s/) [Jacob Burckhardt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-burckhardt/) > [The biggest mischief in the past century has been perpetrated by Rousseau with his doctrine of the goodness of human nature. 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The assumption is that the future will honour…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-burckhardt/the-state-incurs-debts-for-politics-war-and-other-higher-causes-and/) [Jacob Burckhardt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-burckhardt/) > [True universality does not consist in knowing much but in loving much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-burckhardt/true-universality-does-not-consist-in-knowing-much-but-in-loving-much/) [Jacob Burckhardt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-burckhardt/) > [Neither in the life of the individual nor in that of mankind is it desirable to know the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-burckhardt/neither-in-the-life-of-the-individual-nor-in-that-of-mankind-is-it/) [Jacob Burckhardt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-burckhardt/) > [Power is of its nature evil, whoever wields it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-burckhardt/power-is-of-its-nature-evil-whoever-wields-it/) [Jacob Burckhardt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-burckhardt/) > [Only the fairy tale equates changelessness with happiness...Permanence means paralysis and death. 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