--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Take the so-called standard of living…" description: "\"Take the so-called standard of living. What do most people mean by \"living\"? They don’t mean living. They mean the latest and closest plural approximat..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/46b/e-e-cummings-2586_approximation_take-the-so-called-standard-of-living-wh_1417664.png" --- # Take the so-called standard of living. What do most people… ![“Take the so-called standard of living. What do most people mean by "living"? They don’t mean living. They mean the latest and closest plural approximation to singular prenatal passivity which science, in its finite but unbounded wisdom, has succeeded in selling their wives.” quote by e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/46b/e-e-cummings-2586_approximation_take-the-so-called-standard-of-living-wh_1417664.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/46b/e-e-cummings-2586_approximation_take-the-so-called-standard-of-living-wh_1417664.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/46b/e-e-cummings-2586_approximation_take-the-so-called-standard-of-living-wh_1417664.png) > “Take the so-called standard of living. What do most people mean by "living"? They don’t mean living. They mean the latest and closest plural approximation to singular prenatal passivity which science, in its finite but unbounded wisdom, has succeeded in selling their wives.” [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Modern life equates existence with consumerist pursuits, neglecting authentic living. **In simple terms:** People confuse consumption with living. Key Takeaway Seek authentic experiences over material accumulation. Themes society consumerism authenticity Mood critical introspective Type philosophical social When to use this quote - career planning - minimalism - mindfulness practice Key Concepts philosophy critical theory Questions to Reflect On - What does “living” truly mean to you? - Can material comfort coexist with authenticity? A Different Perspective The critique may overlook the comfort that material stability provides. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Passivity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passivity/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Selling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/selling/) [Standards of living](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/standards-of-living/) [Wife](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wife/) [Wisdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wisdom/) ## Related quotes > [“Living would mean nothing without burden.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shawn-speakman/living-would-mean-nothing-without-burden/) [Shawn Speakman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shawn-speakman/) > [I like living with myself. I mean obviously, because here I am interviewing myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jimmy-fallon/i-like-living-with-myself-i-mean-obviously-because-here-i-am/) [Jimmy Fallon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jimmy-fallon/) > [“God living in you will mean nothing to you, it might not be of any worth to you until you act on some things.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/god-living-in-you-will-mean-nothing-to-you-it-might-not-be-of-any/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [If you're not living I mean really living, you're dead already.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-niemoller/if-you-re-not-living-i-mean-really-living-you-re-dead-already/) [Martin Niemoller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-niemoller/) > [“I think the best life would be one that's lived off the grid. No bills, your name in no government databases. No real proof…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joey-comeau/i-think-the-best-life-would-be-one-that-s-lived-off-the-grid-no-bills/) [Joey Comeau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joey-comeau/) > [What I mean by living to one's-self is living in the world, as in it, not of it: it is as if no one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hazlitt/what-i-mean-by-living-to-one-s-self-is-living-in-the-world-as-in-it-2/) [William Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hazlitt/) > [What I mean by living to one's self is living in the world, as in it, not of it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hazlitt/what-i-mean-by-living-to-one-s-self-is-living-in-the-world-as-in-it/) [William Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hazlitt/) > [“Having a job does not mean living”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/having-a-job-does-not-mean-living/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [“Living is no laughing matter: You must take it seriously. So much so and to such a degree that, for example, your hands tied…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naz-m-hikmet/living-is-no-laughing-matter-you-must-take-it-seriously-so-much-so-2/) [Nazim Hikmet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naz-m-hikmet/) > [“Being married or having children does not mean you are living an effective life”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/being-married-or-having-children-does-not-mean-you-are-living-an/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [Always make the new day count, like there's no other round. You are alive aint mean you are living but you are living mean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blaze-olamiday/always-make-the-new-day-count-like-there-s-no-other-round-you-are/) [Blaze Olamiday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blaze-olamiday/) > [Living is no laughing matter: you must live with great seriousness like a squirrel for example - I mean without looking for something beyond…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/living-is-no-laughing-matter-you-must-live-with-great-seriousness/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I consider the differences between man and animals in propensities, feelings, and intellectual faculties, to be the result of the same cause as that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sir-william-lawrence-1st-baronet/i-consider-the-differences-between-man-and-animals-in-propensities/) Sir William Lawrence, 1st Baronet > [Truth is much too complicated to allow anything but approximations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-von-neumann/truth-is-much-too-complicated-to-allow-anything-but-approximations/) [John von Neumann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-von-neumann/) > [“I suppose that having lost true love once, I never wanted to replace it with a lukewarm approximation that would only serve to make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paola-kaufmann/i-suppose-that-having-lost-true-love-once-i-never-wanted-to-replace/) Paola Kaufmann ## More by e. e. cummings > [I would rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach 10,000 stars how not to dance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/i-would-rather-learn-from-one-bird-how-to-sing-than-to-teach-10-000/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [“I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/i-d-rather-learn-from-one-bird-how-to-sing-than-teach-ten-thousand/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [The intellectuals' chief cause of anguish are one another's works. Jacques Barzun, 1959 all ignorance toboggans into know and trudges up to ignorance again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/the-intellectuals-chief-cause-of-anguish-are-one-another-s-works/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [There is no music unless the drum and the drummer are one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/there-is-no-music-unless-the-drum-and-the-drummer-are-one/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [“...for life's not a paragraph/ and death, i think, is no parenthesis.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/for-life-s-not-a-paragraph-and-death-i-think-is-no-parenthesis/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [The symbol of all art is the Prism. The goal is unrealism. The method is destructive. To break up the white light of objective…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/the-symbol-of-all-art-is-the-prism-the-goal-is-unrealism-the-method/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [All ignorance toboggans into know and trudges up to ignorance again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/all-ignorance-toboggans-into-know-and-trudges-up-to-ignorance-again/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [So far as I am concerned, poetry and every other art was and is and forever will be strictly and distinctly a question of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/so-far-as-i-am-concerned-poetry-and-every-other-art-was-and-is-and/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [it's spring when the world is puddle-wonderful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/it-s-spring-when-the-world-is-puddle-wonderful/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [Women and men(both little and small) cared for anyone not at all they sowed their isn’t they reaped their same sun moon stars rain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/women-and-men-both-little-and-small-cared-for-anyone-not-at-all-they/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [O to be in finland/ now that russia's here)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/o-to-be-in-finland-now-that-russia-s-here/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [wholly to be a fool while Spring is in the world my blood approves, and kisses are a far better fate than wisdom lady…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/wholly-to-be-a-fool-while-spring-is-in-the-world-my-blood-approves-2/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [Art is a mystery. A mystery is something immeasurable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/art-is-a-mystery-a-mystery-is-something-immeasurable/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [one day anyone died i guess (and noone stooped to kiss his face) busy folk buried them side by side little by little and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/one-day-anyone-died-i-guess-and-noone-stooped-to-kiss-his-face-busy/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [“sweet spring is your time is my time is our time for springtime is lovetime and viva sweet love (all the merry little birds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/sweet-spring-is-your-time-is-my-time-is-our-time-for-springtime-is/) [E. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) [Explore all 159 e. e. cummings quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) ## More Approximation quotes > [“I suppose that having lost true love once, I never wanted to replace it with a lukewarm approximation that would only serve to make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paola-kaufmann/i-suppose-that-having-lost-true-love-once-i-never-wanted-to-replace/) Paola Kaufmann > [Truth is much too complicated to allow anything but approximations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-von-neumann/truth-is-much-too-complicated-to-allow-anything-but-approximations/) [John von Neumann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-von-neumann/) > [I consider the differences between man and animals in propensities, feelings, and intellectual faculties, to be the result of the same cause as that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sir-william-lawrence-1st-baronet/i-consider-the-differences-between-man-and-animals-in-propensities/) Sir William Lawrence, 1st Baronet > [ \[A\]n Obama presidency would be an amusing approximation of the Carter administration, complete with vaporous moralizing and foreign policy bungling. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emmett-tyrrell/a-n-obama-presidency-would-be-an-amusing-approximation-of-the-carter/) [Emmett Tyrrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emmett-tyrrell/) > [No one knows what the right algorithm is, but it gives us hope that if we can discover some crude approximation of whatever this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ng/no-one-knows-what-the-right-algorithm-is-but-it-gives-us-hope-that-if/) [Andrew Ng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ng/) > [Men of science have made abundant mistakes of every kind; their knowledge has improved only because of their gradual abandonment of ancient errors, poor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-sarton/men-of-science-have-made-abundant-mistakes-of-every-kind-their/) [George Sarton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-sarton/) > [I conceive, therefore, that a somewhat comprehensive socialisation of investment will prove the means of securing an approximation to full employment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-maynard-keynes/i-conceive-therefore-that-a-somewhat-comprehensive-socialisation-of/) [John Maynard Keynes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-maynard-keynes/) > [The fascinating thing to a dispassionate observer about the structure of life in the Soviet Union is that in their efforts to produce an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dos-passos/the-fascinating-thing-to-a-dispassionate-observer-about-the-structure/) [John Dos Passos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dos-passos/) > [Spirituality is much wider than any particular religion, and in the larger ideas of it that are now coming on us even the greatest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sri-aurobindo/spirituality-is-much-wider-than-any-particular-religion-and-in-the/) [Sri Aurobindo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sri-aurobindo/) > [“Luckily, there's a neat approximation formula for just this sum. The higher the number n, the better the estimate will be. It is mathematically…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/metin-bektas/luckily-there-s-a-neat-approximation-formula-for-just-this-sum-the/) Metin Bektas > [No matter how consummate a work of art may seem, it is only an approximation of the original conception. It is the artist's consciousness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgard-varese/no-matter-how-consummate-a-work-of-art-may-seem-it-is-only-an/) [Edgard Varese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgard-varese/) > [There is a clear acknowledgement all over the world that we should not teach people to read and then to leave them without literature.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-d-patel/there-is-a-clear-acknowledgement-all-over-the-world-that-we-should/) A. D. 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