---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: This is the problem of all great…"
description: "\"This is the problem of all great revelations: their significance so often exceeds the frame of our comprehension. We understand only after, always afte..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/886/r-scott-bakker-4344_comprehension_this-is-the-problem-of-all-great-revelat_550974.png"
---

#  This is the problem of all great revelations: their…

![“This is the problem of all great revelations: their significance so often exceeds the frame of our comprehension. We understand only after, always after. Not simply when it is too late, but precisely because it is too late.” quote by R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/886/r-scott-bakker-4344_comprehension_this-is-the-problem-of-all-great-revelat_550974.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/886/r-scott-bakker-4344_comprehension_this-is-the-problem-of-all-great-revelat_550974.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/886/r-scott-bakker-4344_comprehension_this-is-the-problem-of-all-great-revelat_550974.png)

> “This is the problem of all great revelations: their significance so often exceeds the frame of our comprehension. We understand only after, always after. Not simply when it is too late, but precisely because it is too late.”

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Great insights often arrive too late, when we can only grasp their importance after the fact.

**In simple terms:** Important ideas are understood too late.

Key Takeaway

Reflect before it's too late.

Themes

insight timing comprehension

Mood

reflective thoughtful

Type

philosophical inspirational

When to use this quote

- personal growth
- decision making
- learning from history
- strategic planning

Key Concepts

philosophy cognitive bias epistemology

Questions to Reflect On

- How can you anticipate the value of ideas earlier?
- What mechanisms help you recognize significance sooner?

A Different Perspective

Late understanding may prevent timely action.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Comprehension](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/comprehension/) [Great Revelations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/great-revelations-4307561/) [Problem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/problem/) [Revelations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revelations/) [Revelations Significance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revelations-significance-4587137/) [Significance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/significance/) [Significance Exceeds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/significance-exceeds-4587138/) [Too late](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/too-late/)

## Related quotes

> [There have been two great revelations in my life: The first was bepop, the second was homeopathy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dizzy-gillespie/there-have-been-two-great-revelations-in-my-life-the-first-was-bepop/)

[Dizzy Gillespie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dizzy-gillespie/)

> [“Great revelations of nature, of course, never fail to impress in one way or another, and I was no stranger to moods of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/algernon-blackwood/great-revelations-of-nature-of-course-never-fail-to-impress-in-one/)

[Algernon Blackwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/algernon-blackwood/)

> [This revelation of the secrets of nature, long mercifully withheld from man, should arouse the most solemn reflections in the mind and conscience of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/this-revelation-of-the-secrets-of-nature-long-mercifully-withheld/)

[Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/)

> [Worse still is that mankind - the non-Jewish world - learned nothing from the Holocaust: The event which had no precedent in history, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elie-wiesel/worse-still-is-that-mankind-the-non-jewish-world-learned-nothing-from/)

[Elie Wiesel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elie-wiesel/)

> [More and more are turning to photography as a medium of expression as well as communication. The leavening of aesthetic approaches continues. While it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beaumont-newhall/more-and-more-are-turning-to-photography-as-a-medium-of-expression-as/)

[Beaumont Newhall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beaumont-newhall/)

> [The world is only as deep as we can see. This is why fools think themselves profound. This is why terror is the passion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/the-world-is-only-as-deep-as-we-can-see-this-is-why-fools-think/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [I must make MAGICK the essential factor in the life of ALL. In presenting this book to the world, I must then explain and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleister-crowley/i-must-make-magick-the-essential-factor-in-the-life-of-all-in/)

[Aleister Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleister-crowley/)

> [There are thus two tasks for the Mass Media division of Unesco, the one general, the other special. The special one is to enlist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-huxley/there-are-thus-two-tasks-for-the-mass-media-division-of-unesco-the/)

[Julian Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-huxley/)

> [A reader does not suddenly comprehend what is being read or studied, in a snap, miraculously. Comprehension needs to be worked forged, by those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/a-reader-does-not-suddenly-comprehend-what-is-being-read-or-studied/)

[Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/)

> [Plato long ago pointed out the importance of being governed by men with sufficient sense of responsibility and comprehension of public duties to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/plato-long-ago-pointed-out-the-importance-of-being-governed-by-men/)

[George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/)

> [In all our academies we attempt far too much. ... In earlier times lectures were delivered upon chemistry and botany as branches of medicine,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/in-all-our-academies-we-attempt-far-too-much-in-earlier-times/)

[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/)

> [I refer to the misunderstanding of Soviet Russia as an aggressive power, militaristically and ideologically bent upon world domination 'seeing', to quote a recent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/enoch-powell/i-refer-to-the-misunderstanding-of-soviet-russia-as-an-aggressive/)

[Enoch Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/enoch-powell/)

> [“Under ordinary circumstances, we learn to speak before we learn to read, and anyone who has tried to learn a foreign language knows that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kory-stamper/under-ordinary-circumstances-we-learn-to-speak-before-we-learn-to/)

[Kory Stamper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kory-stamper/)

> [We are living at a time where a handful of people have wealth beyond comprehension - huge yachts, jet planes, tens of billions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernie-sanders/we-are-living-at-a-time-where-a-handful-of-people-have-wealth-beyond/)

[Bernie Sanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernie-sanders/)

> [Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know-and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/suppose-that-we-are-wise-enough-to-learn-and-know-and-yet-not-wise/)

[Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/)

## More by R. Scott Bakker

> [If soot stains your tunic, dye it black. This is vengeance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/if-soot-stains-your-tunic-dye-it-black-this-is-vengeance/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [Everyone thinks they've won the Magical Belief Lottery. Everyone thinks they more or less have a handle on things, that they, as opposed to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/everyone-thinks-they-ve-won-the-magical-belief-lottery-everyone/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [I tell you, guilt dwells nowhere but in the eyes of the accuser. This men know even as they deny it, which is why…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/i-tell-you-guilt-dwells-nowhere-but-in-the-eyes-of-the-accuser-this/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [“When a man possesses the innocence of a child, we call him a fool. When a child possesses the cunning of a man, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/when-a-man-possesses-the-innocence-of-a-child-we-call-him-a-fool-when/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [“I am a warrior of ages, Anasurimbor ... ages. I have dipped my nimil in a thousand hearts. I have ridden both against and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/i-am-a-warrior-of-ages-anasurimbor-ages-i-have-dipped-my-nimil-in-a/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [“The vulgar think the God by analogy to man and so worship Him in the form of the Gods. The learned think the God…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/the-vulgar-think-the-god-by-analogy-to-man-and-so-worship-him-in-the/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [There was such a difference, he thought, between the beauty that illuminated, and the beauty that was illuminated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/there-was-such-a-difference-he-thought-between-the-beauty-that/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [Complexity begets ambiguity, which yields in all ways to prejudice and avarice. Complication does not so much defeat Men as arm them with fancy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/complexity-begets-ambiguity-which-yields-in-all-ways-to-prejudice-and/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [“Sorweel: „Then how can we hope to resist him?“ Harweel: „With our swords and our shields. And when those fail us, with spit and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/sorweel-then-how-can-we-hope-to-resist-him-harweel-with-our-swords/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [“He struck his own fire, listened to the night wind roar through the trees. Sometimes, when he could see it, he stared at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/he-struck-his-own-fire-listened-to-the-night-wind-roar-through-the/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [“That hope is little more than the premonition of regret. This is the first lesson of history.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/that-hope-is-little-more-than-the-premonition-of-regret-this-is-the/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [“For all things there is a toll. We pay in breaths, and our purse is soon empty.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/for-all-things-there-is-a-toll-we-pay-in-breaths-and-our-purse-is/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [I wanted a literate, socially intricate, and cosmopolitan world - something I could have fun destroying.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/i-wanted-a-literate-socially-intricate-and-cosmopolitan-world/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [“Only madmen and historians, he said, believe their lies.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/only-madmen-and-historians-he-said-believe-their-lies/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [“Sleep, when deep enough, is indistinguishable from vigilance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/sleep-when-deep-enough-is-indistinguishable-from-vigilance/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

[Explore all 110 R. Scott Bakker quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

## More Comprehension quotes

> [Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know-and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/suppose-that-we-are-wise-enough-to-learn-and-know-and-yet-not-wise/)

[Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/)

> [We are living at a time where a handful of people have wealth beyond comprehension - huge yachts, jet planes, tens of billions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernie-sanders/we-are-living-at-a-time-where-a-handful-of-people-have-wealth-beyond/)

[Bernie Sanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernie-sanders/)

> [“Under ordinary circumstances, we learn to speak before we learn to read, and anyone who has tried to learn a foreign language knows that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kory-stamper/under-ordinary-circumstances-we-learn-to-speak-before-we-learn-to/)

[Kory Stamper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kory-stamper/)

> [I refer to the misunderstanding of Soviet Russia as an aggressive power, militaristically and ideologically bent upon world domination 'seeing', to quote a recent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/enoch-powell/i-refer-to-the-misunderstanding-of-soviet-russia-as-an-aggressive/)

[Enoch Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/enoch-powell/)

> [In all our academies we attempt far too much. ... In earlier times lectures were delivered upon chemistry and botany as branches of medicine,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/in-all-our-academies-we-attempt-far-too-much-in-earlier-times/)

[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/)

> [Plato long ago pointed out the importance of being governed by men with sufficient sense of responsibility and comprehension of public duties to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/plato-long-ago-pointed-out-the-importance-of-being-governed-by-men/)

[George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/)

> [A reader does not suddenly comprehend what is being read or studied, in a snap, miraculously. Comprehension needs to be worked forged, by those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/a-reader-does-not-suddenly-comprehend-what-is-being-read-or-studied/)

[Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/)

> [There are thus two tasks for the Mass Media division of Unesco, the one general, the other special. The special one is to enlist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-huxley/there-are-thus-two-tasks-for-the-mass-media-division-of-unesco-the/)

[Julian Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-huxley/)

> [I must make MAGICK the essential factor in the life of ALL. In presenting this book to the world, I must then explain and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleister-crowley/i-must-make-magick-the-essential-factor-in-the-life-of-all-in/)

[Aleister Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleister-crowley/)

> [The magic of the mechanisms inside each genetic structure saying exactly where that nerve cell should go - the complexity of these mathematical models…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-tsiaras/the-magic-of-the-mechanisms-inside-each-genetic-structure-saying/)

[Alexander Tsiaras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-tsiaras/)

> [This revelation of the secrets of nature, long mercifully withheld from man, should arouse the most solemn reflections in the mind and conscience of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/this-revelation-of-the-secrets-of-nature-long-mercifully-withheld/)

[Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/)

> [“The illusion of comprehension allowed people to think they were more alike than they really were.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-illusion-of-comprehension-allowed-people-to-think-they-were-more/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [On the dogmas of religion, as distinguished from moral principles, all mankind, from the beginning of the world to this day, have been quarrelling,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/on-the-dogmas-of-religion-as-distinguished-from-moral-principles-all/)

[Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/)

> [My parents read to me a lot as a kid, and I started writing very early, probably spurred on by Aesop's fables. Then they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-vandermeer/my-parents-read-to-me-a-lot-as-a-kid-and-i-started-writing-very-early/)

[Jeff VanderMeer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-vandermeer/)

> [I'm inspired by people like Nelson Mandela. Can you imagine - you know how racist America was back then - imagine how racism was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nas/i-m-inspired-by-people-like-nelson-mandela-can-you-imagine-you-know/)

[Nas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nas/)

[Browse all 389 Comprehension quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/comprehension/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "This is the problem of all great revelations: their significance so often exceeds the frame of our comprehension. We understand only after, always after. Not simply when it is too late, but precisely because it is too late.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "R. Scott Bakker"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/this-is-the-problem-of-all-great-revelations-their-significance-so/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Comprehension"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/this-is-the-problem-of-all-great-revelations-their-significance-so/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/886/r-scott-bakker-4344_comprehension_this-is-the-problem-of-all-great-revelat_550974.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/886/r-scott-bakker-4344_comprehension_this-is-the-problem-of-all-great-revelat_550974.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/886/r-scott-bakker-4344_comprehension_this-is-the-problem-of-all-great-revelat_550974.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“This is the problem of all great revelations: their significance so often exceeds the frame of our…” — R. Scott Bakker",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "R. Scott Bakker",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "This is the problem of all...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/this-is-the-problem-of-all-great-revelations-their-significance-so/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/this-is-the-problem-of-all-great-revelations-their-significance-so/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
