In the life of the mind they [the Greeks] reached frontiers which the rest of mankind cannot permit themselves to fall short of, at least in their attempts to acknowledge and to profit, even where they are inferior to the Greeks in the capacity for achievement. It is for this reason that posterity needs to study the Greeks; if we ignore them we are simply accepting our own decline.

— Jacob Burckhardt The Greeks and Greek Civilization (1998)

More quotes by Jacob Burckhardt

Judgements on History and Historians (1929)

The Greeks and Greek Civilization (1998)

The Greeks and Greek Civilization (1998)

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