--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: ... we have almost succeeded in leveling…" description: "\"... we have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and providing for their bun..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/398/hannah-arendt-610_activity_we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all_3236237.jpg" --- # ... we have almost succeeded in leveling all human… ![“... we have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and providing for their bundance. Whatever we do, we are supposed to do for the sake of "making a living;" such is the verdict of society, and the number of people…” quote by Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/398/hannah-arendt-610_activity_we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all_3236237.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/398/hannah-arendt-610_activity_we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all_3236237.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/398/hannah-arendt-610_activity_we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all_3236237.jpg) > “... we have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and providing for their bundance. Whatever we do, we are supposed to do for the sake of "making a living;" such is the verdict of society, and the number of people, especially in the professions who might challenge it, has decreased rapidly. The only exception society is willing to grant is to the artist, who, strictly speaking, is the only "worker" left in a laboring society.” [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Society reduces most work to mere survival, leaving artists as the sole group still seen as genuine labor. **In simple terms:** Most jobs are reduced to survival; artists remain true workers. Key Takeaway Value artistic contribution beyond economic metrics. Themes labor art society economics Mood reflective analytical Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - education - policy - media - community projects Key Concepts alienation value theory creative freedom Questions to Reflect On - What defines “real” work in modern society? - How can art retain independence? A Different Perspective Art may still be commodified, limiting its autonomy. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Career](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/career/) [Challenges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/challenges/) [Common denominator](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/common-denominator/) [Human activity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-activity/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Labor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/labor/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Making a living](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/making-a-living/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Profession](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/profession/) [Society](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/society/) [Verdict](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/verdict/) [Work](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/work/) [Workers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/workers/) ## Related quotes > [“The modern age has carried with it a theoretical glorification of labor and has resulted in a factual transformation of the whole of society…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-modern-age-has-carried-with-it-a-theoretical-glorification-of/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“Freedom from labor itself is not new; it once belonged among the most firmly established privileges of the few. In this instance, it seems…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/freedom-from-labor-itself-is-not-new-it-once-belonged-among-the-most/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [society, while willing to make room for women, is not willing to make changes for them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-williams/society-while-willing-to-make-room-for-women-is-not-willing-to-make/) [Shirley Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-williams/) > [“Mystery is a commodity for society that willing to buy it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toba-beta/mystery-is-a-commodity-for-society-that-willing-to-buy-it/) [Toba Beta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toba-beta/) > [If we as a society are willing to have a preference for organic food, the farmer can pass on the savings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-patterson/if-we-as-a-society-are-willing-to-have-a-preference-for-organic-food/) [Robert Patterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-patterson/) > [If we as a society are willing to take away human life, we should be willing to watch it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-kozinski/if-we-as-a-society-are-willing-to-take-away-human-life-we-should-be/) [Alex Kozinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-kozinski/) > [I have no bones to pick and no fight with society. And I'm willing to be and interested in being in the mainstream of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-reeve/i-have-no-bones-to-pick-and-no-fight-with-society-and-i-m-willing-to/) [Christopher Reeve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-reeve/) > [“A society in which no one is willing to risk being called a troublemaker is a place where power is certain to be abused.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfie-kohn/a-society-in-which-no-one-is-willing-to-risk-being-called-a/) [Alfie Kohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfie-kohn/) > [By dint of that concern and because that society was willing to examine its particular reality, Solidarity could come into existence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrzej-wajda/by-dint-of-that-concern-and-because-that-society-was-willing-to/) [Andrzej Wajda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrzej-wajda/) > [A society that is not willing to demand a life of somebody who has taken somebody else’s life is simply immoral.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/immanuel-kant/a-society-that-is-not-willing-to-demand-a-life-of-somebody-who-has/) [Immanuel Kant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/immanuel-kant/) > [The human condition comprehends more than the condition under which life has been given to man. Men are conditioned beings because everything they come…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-human-condition-comprehends-more-than-the-condition-under-which/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Of all human activities, only labor, and neither action nor work, is unending, progressing automatically in accordance with life itself and outside the range…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/of-all-human-activities-only-labor-and-neither-action-nor-work-is/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Labor will hurt. Probably a lot. But whether this is negative is another matter... A laboring woman can be in a great deal of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henci-goer/labor-will-hurt-probably-a-lot-but-whether-this-is-negative-is/) [Henci Goer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henci-goer/) > [“If you are ready to make a difference and shine, then you must be ready to pay the price by laboring rightly with your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/if-you-are-ready-to-make-a-difference-and-shine-then-you-must-be/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [Laboring men can perform for themselves the office of becoming their own employers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leland-stanford/laboring-men-can-perform-for-themselves-the-office-of-becoming-their/) [Leland Stanford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leland-stanford/) ## More by Hannah Arendt > [“It means, first, that everything that appears in public can be seen and heard by everybody and has the widest possible publicity. For us,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/it-means-first-that-everything-that-appears-in-public-can-be-seen-and/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Without being forgiven, released from the consequences of what we have done, our capacity to act would, as it were, be confined to one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/without-being-forgiven-released-from-the-consequences-of-what-we-have/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [What really distinguishes this generation in all countries from earlier generations ... is its determination to act, its joy in action, the assurance of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/what-really-distinguishes-this-generation-in-all-countries-from/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [The practice of violence, like all action, changes the world, but the most probable change is a more violent world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-practice-of-violence-like-all-action-changes-the-world-but-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“Nationalism always preserved this initial intimate loyalty to the government and never quite lost its function of preserving a precarious balance between nation and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/nationalism-always-preserved-this-initial-intimate-loyalty-to-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [There is all the difference in the world between the criminal's avoiding the public eye and the civil disobedience's taking the law into his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/there-is-all-the-difference-in-the-world-between-the-criminal-s/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“What imperialists actually wanted was expansion of political power without the foundation of the body politic. Imperialist expansion had been touched off by a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/what-imperialists-actually-wanted-was-expansion-of-political-power/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [the greater the bureaucratization of public life, the greater will be the attraction of violence. In a fully developed bureaucracy there is nobody left…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-greater-the-bureaucratization-of-public-life-the-greater-will-be/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/forgiveness-is-the-key-to-action-and-freedom/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Death not merely ends life, it also bestows upon it a silent completeness, snatched from the hazardous flux to which all things human are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/death-not-merely-ends-life-it-also-bestows-upon-it-a-silent/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/only-crime-and-the-criminal-it-is-true-confront-us-with-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [We have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and providing for their abundance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all-human-activities-to-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“Totalitarian politics—far from being simply antisemitic or racist or imperialist or communist—use and abuse their own ideological and political elements until the basis of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/totalitarian-politics-far-from-being-simply-antisemitic-or-racist-or/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“It is like the distinction between war and peace: just as war takes place for the sake of peace, thus every kind of activity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/it-is-like-the-distinction-between-war-and-peace-just-as-war-takes/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Every end in history necessarily contains a new beginning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/every-end-in-history-necessarily-contains-a-new-beginning/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) [Explore all 405 Hannah Arendt quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) ## More Activity quotes > [Where I grew up, learning was a collective activity. But when I got to school and tried to share learning with other students that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/where-i-grew-up-learning-was-a-collective-activity-but-when-i-got-to/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [It must be assumed and established as a principle, that the right of private property must be regarded as sacred. Wherefore, the law ought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-leo-xiii/it-must-be-assumed-and-established-as-a-principle-that-the-right-of/) [Pope Leo XIII](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-leo-xiii/) > [Each man is capable of doing one thing well. If he attempts several, he will fail to achieve distinction in any.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/each-man-is-capable-of-doing-one-thing-well-if-he-attempts-several-he/) [Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/) > [And also I think the rise of other, you could say, destinations for international jihadis mean that Pakistan isn't necessarily the place where people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohsin-hamid/and-also-i-think-the-rise-of-other-you-could-say-destinations-for/) [Mohsin Hamid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohsin-hamid/) > [To evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced, and having evoked it in oneself, then by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/to-evoke-in-oneself-a-feeling-one-has-once-experienced-and-having/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [Fighting's fun, man. It's a great activity, it's a great sport.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-mitrione/fighting-s-fun-man-it-s-a-great-activity-it-s-a-great-sport/) [Matt Mitrione](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-mitrione/) > [There were books everywhere in my house. Books were very present. I just loved books. I never understood reading as anything but a pleasurable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-lucas/there-were-books-everywhere-in-my-house-books-were-very-present-i/) [Lisa Lucas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-lucas/) > [For war to man, like childbirth to women, is simplifying in its emotions and activities. All the real problems of life can be put…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/for-war-to-man-like-childbirth-to-women-is-simplifying-in-its/) [Pearl S. Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearl-s-buck/) > [The only activity a cynic will find contagious is yawning, that is, with other people, at other people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/criss-jami/the-only-activity-a-cynic-will-find-contagious-is-yawning-that-is/) [Criss Jami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/criss-jami/) > [For the longest time, neuroscientists were forced to be passive observers of brain activity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gero-miesenbock/for-the-longest-time-neuroscientists-were-forced-to-be-passive/) Gero Miesenbock > [Enjoyment is not a goal, it is a feeling that accompanies important ongoing activity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-goodman/enjoyment-is-not-a-goal-it-is-a-feeling-that-accompanies-important/) [Paul Goodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-goodman/) > [Once an activity has been socialized, it is impossible to point out, by concrete example, how men in a free market could better conduct…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-read/once-an-activity-has-been-socialized-it-is-impossible-to-point-out-by/) [Leonard Read](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-read/) > [“Fun is not an activity, it is a state of mind.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryant-mcgill/fun-is-not-an-activity-it-is-a-state-of-mind/) [Bryant McGill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryant-mcgill/) > [I have to consider everything I eat; I consider every activity I do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-kimball/i-have-to-consider-everything-i-eat-i-consider-every-activity-i-do/) [Charlie Kimball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-kimball/) > [Almost all good businesses engage in 'pain today, gain tomorrow' activities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/almost-all-good-businesses-engage-in-pain-today-gain-tomorrow/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) Browse all 3,263 Activity quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "... we have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and providing for their bundance. 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