--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We have almost succeeded in leveling all…" description: "\"We have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and providing for their abundan..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/153/hannah-arendt-610_abundance_we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all_112266.jpg" --- # We have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities… ![“We have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and providing for their abundance.” quote by Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/153/hannah-arendt-610_abundance_we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all_112266.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/153/hannah-arendt-610_abundance_we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all_112266.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/153/hannah-arendt-610_abundance_we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all_112266.jpg) > “We have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and providing for their abundance.” [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. Human activity is increasingly organized around meeting basic needs and generating surplus, reducing diverse pursuits to a common economic focus. **In simple terms:** Society narrows to survival and abundance. Key Takeaway Economic imperatives dominate human purpose. Themes economics societal trends materialism human motivation Mood reflective critical Type philosophical sociopolitical When to use this quote - public policy planning - corporate strategy - urban development - social safety nets Key Concepts commodification of life collective welfare vs. individual aspiration Practical Applications - Design policies that balance basic security with creative freedom - Encourage diversified value systems beyond material success Questions to Reflect On - How can societies nurture non‑material fulfillment? - What risks arise when abundance becomes the sole metric of progress? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on material needs can marginalize spiritual, artistic, and relational dimensions of life. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Abundance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abundance/) [Common denominator](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/common-denominator/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Nature of man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature-of-man/) ## Related quotes > [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/) > [The city of Chandigarh is planned to human scale. It puts us in touch with the infinite cosmos and nature. It provides us with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/le-corbusier/the-city-of-chandigarh-is-planned-to-human-scale-it-puts-us-in-touch/) [Le Corbusier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/le-corbusier/) > [ We do not know how much of the environmental change is due to human activities and how much \[is due\] to long-term natural processes… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/freeman-dyson/we-do-not-know-how-much-of-the-environmental-change-is-due-to-human/) [Freeman Dyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/freeman-dyson/) > [There is no significant difference between human activities and those by amoebas and even bacteria, well, on the GRAND SCALE.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mikhail-leonidovich-gromov/there-is-no-significant-difference-between-human-activities-and-those/) [Mikhail Leonidovich Gromov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mikhail-leonidovich-gromov/) > [An ecovillage is a human scale, full-featured settlement which integrates human activities harmlessly into the natural environment, supports healthy development and can be continued…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gilman/an-ecovillage-is-a-human-scale-full-featured-settlement-which/) Robert Gilman > [Most human activities are predicated on the assumption that life goes on](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/most-human-activities-are-predicated-on-the-assumption-that-life-goes/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The question of whether or to what extent human activities are causing global warming is not a matter of ideology, let alone of belief.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-turnbull/the-question-of-whether-or-to-what-extent-human-activities-are/) [Malcolm Turnbull](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-turnbull/) > [Marketing is the set of human activities directed at facilitating and consummating exchanges.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-kotler/marketing-is-the-set-of-human-activities-directed-at-facilitating-and/) [Philip Kotler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-kotler/) > [There is scientific evidence that demonstrates there is some impact from human activities. However I don't think the evidence is conclusive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kelly-ayotte/there-is-scientific-evidence-that-demonstrates-there-is-some-impact/) [Kelly Ayotte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kelly-ayotte/) > [“One even speaks of ‘‘globalization’’ of it, in every field of human activities, where ‘‘fashion’’ or entertainment have very little to do”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saveros-pou/one-even-speaks-of-globalization-of-it-in-every-field-of-human/) Saveros Pou > [... we have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and providing for their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all-human-activities-to-the-2/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Our Last Will and Testament, providing for the only future of which we can be reasonably certain, namely our own death, shows thatthe Will's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/our-last-will-and-testament-providing-for-the-only-future-of-which-we/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“Der kleinste gemeinsame Nenner ist ein Klumpen Dreck, an den sich alle klammern müssen. // The lowest common denominator is a piece of dirt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/der-kleinste-gemeinsame-nenner-ist-ein-klumpen-dreck-an-den-sich-alle/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Even if it's just a little thing, something like a song, there's still that sort of common language, that common denominator that we can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonas-carpignano/even-if-it-s-just-a-little-thing-something-like-a-song-there-s-still/) [Jonas Carpignano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonas-carpignano/) > [“Yet the flip side of the coin was all the positive literature about radium. As early as 1914, specialists knew that radium could deposit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-moore/yet-the-flip-side-of-the-coin-was-all-the-positive-literature-about/) [Kate Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-moore/) ## 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/) > [“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/) > [The end of rebellion is liberation, while the end of revolution is the foundation of freedom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-end-of-rebellion-is-liberation-while-the-end-of-revolution-is-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) [Explore all 405 Hannah Arendt quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) ## More Abundance quotes > [ When the fountains of government \[borrowing\] abundance began to dry up, when through lack of funds and the impossibility of negotiating fresh loans the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-t-flynn/when-the-fountains-of-government-borrowing-abundance-began-to-dry-up/) [John T. Flynn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-t-flynn/) > [ We have no clear ideas of the agency of \[demonic\] spirits, nor is it necessary. The Scripture says little to satisfy our curiosity; but… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-newton/we-have-no-clear-ideas-of-the-agency-of-demonic-spirits-nor-is-it/) [John Newton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-newton/) > [Like the water of a deep stream, love is always too much. We did not make it. Though we drink till we burst, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/like-the-water-of-a-deep-stream-love-is-always-too-much-we-did-not/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [“Life is open to us all. No one will ever see life exactly the same as another. Some folks will argue that one who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sereda-aleta-dailey/life-is-open-to-us-all-no-one-will-ever-see-life-exactly-the-same-as/) [Sereda Aleta Dailey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sereda-aleta-dailey/) > [Our obsession with material things and lack of self-worth is evident in our need for an abundance of momentary luxuries and must-have amenities that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-i/our-obsession-with-material-things-and-lack-of-self-worth-is-evident/) T.I > [Like the sea itself, the unconscious yields an endless and self-replenishing abundance of creatures, a wealth beyond our fathoming.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/like-the-sea-itself-the-unconscious-yields-an-endless-and-self/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) > [There are times when born hollandaise heads, as well as nouveaux turbot freaks and recherche escargotphiles alike crave the saignet abundance of a New…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gael-greene/there-are-times-when-born-hollandaise-heads-as-well-as-nouveaux/) [Gael Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gael-greene/) > [I always tell Asian actors, especially Filipinos wanting to break into Hollywood, to study, study and study and show their best. I haven't stopped…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reggie-lee/i-always-tell-asian-actors-especially-filipinos-wanting-to-break-into/) [Reggie Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reggie-lee/) > [“Without darkness, we may never know how bright the stars shine. Without battles, we could not know what victory feels like. Without adversity, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julie-anne/without-darkness-we-may-never-know-how-bright-the-stars-shine-without/) [Julie-Anne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julie-anne/) > [It is no small honour that God for our sake has so magnificently adorned the world, in order that we may not only be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-calvin/it-is-no-small-honour-that-god-for-our-sake-has-so-magnificently/) [John Calvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-calvin/) > [frustration, complication and misery are available in abundance, but so is God's grace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-meyer/frustration-complication-and-misery-are-available-in-abundance-but-so/) [Joyce Meyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-meyer/) > [I dreamt a limitless book, A book unbound, Its leaves scattered in fantastic abundance On every line there was a new horizon drawn, New…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clive-barker/i-dreamt-a-limitless-book-a-book-unbound-its-leaves-scattered-in/) [Clive Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clive-barker/) > [I used to be a columnist for 'Golf Monthly' and have contributed articles for national newspapers based on the humour that is in abundance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jasper-carrott/i-used-to-be-a-columnist-for-golf-monthly-and-have-contributed/) [Jasper Carrott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jasper-carrott/) > [Remember, whatever you focus upon, increases...When you focus on the things you need, you'll find those needs increasing. If you concentrate your thoughts on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-andrews/remember-whatever-you-focus-upon-increases-when-you-focus-on-the/) [Andy Andrews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-andrews/) > [Don't measure the height of your Christmas tree. Measure the abundance of the love present in your heart! Have a Blessed Christmas!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/don-t-measure-the-height-of-your-christmas-tree-measure-the-abundance/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 1,251 Abundance quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abundance/) ```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 abundance.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Hannah Arendt" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all-human-activities-to-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Abundance" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all-human-activities-to-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/153/hannah-arendt-610_abundance_we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all_112266.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/153/hannah-arendt-610_abundance_we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all_112266.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/153/hannah-arendt-610_abundance_we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all_112266.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the…” — Hannah Arendt", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Hannah Arendt", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "We have almost succeeded in leveling...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all-human-activities-to-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all-human-activities-to-the/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```