--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is not our level of prosperity that…" description: "\"It is not our level of prosperity that makes for happiness but the kinship of heart to heart and the way we look at the world. Both attitudes lie withi..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55b/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn-671_attitude_it-is-not-our-level-of-prosperity-that-m_666905.jpg" --- # It is not our level of prosperity that makes for happiness… ![“It is not our level of prosperity that makes for happiness but the kinship of heart to heart and the way we look at the world. Both attitudes lie within our power, so that a man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy, and no one can stop him.” quote by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55b/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn-671_attitude_it-is-not-our-level-of-prosperity-that-m_666905.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55b/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn-671_attitude_it-is-not-our-level-of-prosperity-that-m_666905.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55b/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn-671_attitude_it-is-not-our-level-of-prosperity-that-m_666905.jpg) > “It is not our level of prosperity that makes for happiness but the kinship of heart to heart and the way we look at the world. Both attitudes lie within our power, so that a man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy, and no one can stop him.” [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Happiness stems from human connection and perspective, not material wealth; personal choice determines joy. **In simple terms:** Happiness comes from heart connections and choosing to be happy. Key Takeaway Choose a positive outlook. Themes happiness human connection mindset Mood reflective optimistic Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - relationships - personal growth - adversity - daily life Key Concepts Philosophy of well‑being choice theory Questions to Reflect On - What relationships nurture you? - Can you choose happiness in hardship? A Different Perspective External circumstances can still heavily influence mood. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Attitude](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/attitude/) [Choose to be happy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/choose-to-be-happy/) [Happiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happiness/) [Heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heart/) [Heart to heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heart-to-heart/) [Kinship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kinship/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Lying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lying/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Prosperity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prosperity/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [A man is happy so long as he choose to be happy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-solzhenitsyn/a-man-is-happy-so-long-as-he-choose-to-be-happy/) [Alexander Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-solzhenitsyn/) > [Our societies have achieved a general level of prosperity of which most of all the human beings who have ever lived could only dream.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lanchester/our-societies-have-achieved-a-general-level-of-prosperity-of-which/) [John Lanchester](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lanchester/) > [I want us to be able to preserve our level of prosperity. We must constantly remind ourselves that Germany has been eating into its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-merkel/i-want-us-to-be-able-to-preserve-our-level-of-prosperity-we-must/) [Angela Merkel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-merkel/) > [what was the right level of prosperity, the level that banished dire need but did not satiate, the level that did not threaten the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nayantara-sahgal/what-was-the-right-level-of-prosperity-the-level-that-banished-dire/) [Nayantara Sahgal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nayantara-sahgal/) > [One of the things I've learned as I've studied the principles in God's Word is this, that God wants us to prosper. But, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-gorman/one-of-the-things-i-ve-learned-as-i-ve-studied-the-principles-in-god/) [Mark Gorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-gorman/) > [Call no day happy 'til it is done; call no man happy til he is dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/call-no-day-happy-til-it-is-done-call-no-man-happy-til-he-is-dead/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [“A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/a-man-is-happy-so-long-as-he-chooses-to-be-happy/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy and nothing can stop him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/a-man-is-happy-so-long-as-he-chooses-to-be-happy-and-nothing-can-stop/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [Pleasure is Nature's test, her sign of approval. When man is happy, he is in harmony with himself and his environment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/pleasure-is-nature-s-test-her-sign-of-approval-when-man-is-happy-he/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“...count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophocles/count-no-man-happy-till-he-dies-free-of-pain-at-last/) [Sophocles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophocles/) > [Call no man happy until he is dead, but only lucky.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/solon/call-no-man-happy-until-he-is-dead-but-only-lucky/) [Solon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/solon/) > [If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches but take away from his desires.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epicurus/if-thou-wilt-make-a-man-happy-add-not-unto-his-riches-but-take-away/) [Epicurus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epicurus/) > [Come, let me know what it is that makes a Scotch man happy!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/come-let-me-know-what-it-is-that-makes-a-scotch-man-happy/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [“Is there any difference between a happy and a lucky man? A happy is someone who finds an oasis with drinking water in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eraldo-banovac/is-there-any-difference-between-a-happy-and-a-lucky-man-a-happy-is/) [Eraldo Banovac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eraldo-banovac/) > [“Admire and appreciate your man and he will be happy on your side”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-alfiori/admire-and-appreciate-your-man-and-he-will-be-happy-on-your-side/) [Linda Alfiori](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-alfiori/) ## More by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn > [If you wanted to put the world to rights, who should you begin with: yourself or others?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/if-you-wanted-to-put-the-world-to-rights-who-should-you-begin-with/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [“...you are strong only as long as you don't deprive people of everything . For a person you've taken everything from is no longer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/you-are-strong-only-as-long-as-you-don-t-deprive-people-of-everything/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [Woe to that nation whose literature is cut short by the intrusion of force. This is not merely interference with freedom of the press…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/woe-to-that-nation-whose-literature-is-cut-short-by-the-intrusion-of/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [Literature becomes the living memory of a nation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/literature-becomes-the-living-memory-of-a-nation/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [If there were no executioners, there would be no executions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/if-there-were-no-executioners-there-would-be-no-executions/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [Not everything has a name. Some things lead us into a realm beyond words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/not-everything-has-a-name-some-things-lead-us-into-a-realm-beyond/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [It is almost always impossible to evaluate at the time events which you have already experienced, and to understand their meaning with the guidance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/it-is-almost-always-impossible-to-evaluate-at-the-time-events-which/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [Human nature is full of riddles; . . . one of those riddles is: how is it that people who have been crushed by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/human-nature-is-full-of-riddles-one-of-those-riddles-is-how-is-it/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [“It was astonishing that the pseudo wreckers, who knew perfectly well that they weren't wreckers, believed that military men and priests were being shaken…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/it-was-astonishing-that-the-pseudo-wreckers-who-knew-perfectly-well/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [When the whole discussion of "developing a national idea" hastily began in post-Soviet Russia, I tried to pour cold water on it with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/when-the-whole-discussion-of-developing-a-national-idea-hastily-began/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [“It was granted me to carry away from my prison years on my bent back, which nearly broke beneath its load, this essential experience;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/it-was-granted-me-to-carry-away-from-my-prison-years-on-my-bent-back/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [Call no day happy 'til it is done; call no man happy til he is dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/call-no-day-happy-til-it-is-done-call-no-man-happy-til-he-is-dead/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [Whenever the tissue of life is woven of legalistic relationships, this creates an atmosphere of spiritual mediocrity that paralyzes a person's noblest impulses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/whenever-the-tissue-of-life-is-woven-of-legalistic-relationships-this/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [The same old caveman feeling-greed, envy, violence, and mutual hate, which along the way assumed respectable pseudonyms like class struggle, racial struggle, mass struggle,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/the-same-old-caveman-feeling-greed-envy-violence-and-mutual-hate/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) > [Surrender one hair, and you'll end up beardless.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/surrender-one-hair-and-you-ll-end-up-beardless/) [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) [Explore all 412 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/) ## More Attitude quotes > [“WE CAN'T ALWAYS CONTROL OUR CIRCUMSTANCES BUT WE CAN CONTROL OUR ATTITUDE. WE MUST BE MORE CONCERNED WITH WHAT WE DO WITH WHAT HAPPENS…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-j-ashton/we-can-t-always-control-our-circumstances-but-we-can-control-our/) [MARVIN J. ASHTON](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-j-ashton/) > [It's not the method, it's the mindset.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-gilbert/it-s-not-the-method-it-s-the-mindset/) [Andy Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-gilbert/) > [The vision of the left, full of envy and resentment, takes its worst toll on those at the bottom - whether black or white…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/the-vision-of-the-left-full-of-envy-and-resentment-takes-its-worst/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [Changes before your eyes, things you can do and things you can't. My attitude is always let it keep rolling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terrence-malick/changes-before-your-eyes-things-you-can-do-and-things-you-can-t-my/) [Terrence Malick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terrence-malick/) > [Vow to be valiant. Resolve to be radiant. Determine to be dynamic. Strive to be sincere. Aspire to be attuned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-arthur-ward/vow-to-be-valiant-resolve-to-be-radiant-determine-to-be-dynamic/) [William Arthur Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-arthur-ward/) > [Don't judge me because I'm stupid. Don't judge me because I'm, mean. Don't judge me because I'm weird. Don't judge me for mistakes. Because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-harden-me/don-t-judge-me-because-i-m-stupid-don-t-judge-me-because-i-m-mean-don/) Isaiah Harden (Me > [Your feelings (mood) dictate your thought, your thought determines your attitude (reactions) and your attitude describes your lifestyle, so: be careful how you feel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheye-hassan/your-feelings-mood-dictate-your-thought-your-thought-determines-your/) Sheye Hassan > [Success will come when the societal attitude changes and not a single woman in America asks herself the question 'What did I do?'.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-biden/success-will-come-when-the-societal-attitude-changes-and-not-a-single/) [Joe Biden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-biden/) > [“Good Seeds! Gratitude is the Greatest Attitude that has no Substitute.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-kelvin-clive/good-seeds-gratitude-is-the-greatest-attitude-that-has-no-substitute/) [Bernard Kelvin Clive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-kelvin-clive/) > [Jeff Chu's pilgrimage across America to discover his own place as a gay man in the Christian church as well as attitudes about being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-freitas/jeff-chu-s-pilgrimage-across-america-to-discover-his-own-place-as-a/) [Donna Freitas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-freitas/) > [One genuine reason to feel jealous of my parents:-) I will never ever have a kid as awesome as their's...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-genuine-reason-to-feel-jealous-of-my-parents-i-will-never-ever/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm optimistic Hong Kong will achieve universal suffrage - no matter the attitude of Beijing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-wong/i-m-optimistic-hong-kong-will-achieve-universal-suffrage-no-matter/) [Joshua Wong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-wong/) > [My attitude it that you don't give in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-taylor/my-attitude-it-that-you-don-t-give-in/) [Phil Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-taylor/) > [Transparency pertains to impartial behavior, implies openness, communication, and accountability. Inculcate transparency in attitude and experience a life free of controversy and blame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dr-anil-kr-sinha/transparency-pertains-to-impartial-behavior-implies-openness/) [Dr Anil Kr Sinha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dr-anil-kr-sinha/) > [And if the mind thinks with a believing attitude one can do amazing things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-vincent-peale/and-if-the-mind-thinks-with-a-believing-attitude-one-can-do-amazing/) [Norman Vincent Peale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-vincent-peale/) [Browse all 9,543 Attitude quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/attitude/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is not our level of prosperity that makes for happiness but the kinship of heart to heart and the way we look at the world. 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