[The beginning of the First World War] was a decisive moment in my life, of a singular nature, inserted in a very great decisive moment of an era, which in that period of time could only be sense, but not recognize precisely. Today we know it: the bourgeois was coming to an end, the in which the autonomous personality had still managed to assert itself, despite the continuous but also fruitful tension with all the powers superpersonalities of life. The of a stronger, and increasingly stronger, bond and integration of the personality into these powers of life began; and then the personality risks declining to a simple function, without autonomous value; to an instrumental person, as has been said." - Meaning and context.">
p. 274
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[The beginning of the First World War] was a decisive moment in my life, of a singular nature, inserted in a very great decisive moment of an era, which in that period of time could only be sense, but not recognize precisely. Today we know it: the bourgeois was coming to an end, the in which the autonomous personality had still managed to assert itself, despite the continuous but also fruitful tension with all the powers superpersonalities of life. The of a stronger, and increasingly stronger, bond and integration of the personality into these powers of life began; and then the personality risks declining to a simple function, without autonomous value; to an instrumental person, as has been said.

— Friedrich Meinecke

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "[The beginning of the First World War] was a decisive moment in my life, of a singular nature, inserted in a very great decisive moment of an era, which in that period of time could only be sense, but not recognize precisely. Today we know it: the bourgeois was coming to an end, the in which the autonomous personality had still managed to assert itself, despite the continuous but also fruitful tension with all the powers superpersonalities of life. The of a stronger, and increasingly stronger, bond and integration of the personality into these powers of life began; and then the personality risks declining to a simple function, without autonomous value; to an instrumental person, as has been said." in the context of "p. 274" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Friedrich Meinecke" (Experiences C.E.1862-1919:) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 19, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Friedrich Meinecke

About Friedrich Meinecke

Friedrich Meinecke (October 30, 1862 – February 6, 1954), German historian.