---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Politics is the activity by which the…"
description: "\"Politics is the activity by which the framework of human life is sustained; it is not life itself.\" — Kenneth Minogue"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3fd/kenneth-minogue-28215_activity_politics-is-the-activity-by-which-the-fr_884120.jpg"
---

#  Politics is the activity by which the framework of human…

![“Politics is the activity by which the framework of human life is sustained; it is not life itself.” quote by Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3fd/kenneth-minogue-28215_activity_politics-is-the-activity-by-which-the-fr_884120.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3fd/kenneth-minogue-28215_activity_politics-is-the-activity-by-which-the-fr_884120.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3fd/kenneth-minogue-28215_activity_politics-is-the-activity-by-which-the-fr_884120.jpg)

> “Politics is the activity by which the framework of human life is sustained; it is not life itself.”

[Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Politics structures society but is not the essence of life itself.

**In simple terms:** Politics organizes life, not life itself.

Key Takeaway

Separate political structures from personal existence.

Themes

politics society philosophy structure

Mood

analytical critical

Type

philosophical academic

When to use this quote

- policy making
- civic engagement
- academic study
- public debate

Key Concepts

political theory human nature institutional analysis

Questions to Reflect On

- How does politics shape your daily decisions?
- Can life be meaningful without political involvement?

A Different Perspective

May ignore the emotional and cultural dimensions of life beyond politics.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Human life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-life/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life itself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-itself/) [Politics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics/)

## Related quotes

> [Politics I take to be the activity of attending to the general arrangements of a set of people whom chance or choice have brought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-joseph-oakeshott/politics-i-take-to-be-the-activity-of-attending-to-the-general/)

[Michael Joseph Oakeshott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-joseph-oakeshott/)

> [Politics is activity in relation to power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-parker-yockey/politics-is-activity-in-relation-to-power/)

[Francis Parker Yockey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-parker-yockey/)

> [If life is to be sustained, hope must remain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-erikson/if-life-is-to-be-sustained-hope-must-remain/)

[Erik Erikson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-erikson/)

> [“Life is sustained within the confines of personal reality bubbles.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-redhead/life-is-sustained-within-the-confines-of-personal-reality-bubbles/)

[Steven Redhead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-redhead/)

> [Life cannot be sustained if held on to: It must be given freely.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-bevere/life-cannot-be-sustained-if-held-on-to-it-must-be-given-freely/)

[John Bevere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-bevere/)

> [You could say that my life since has been a sustained act of luxurious rebellion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-starkey/you-could-say-that-my-life-since-has-been-a-sustained-act-of/)

[David Starkey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-starkey/)

> [Education is a life; that life is sustained on ideas; ideas are of spiritual origin, and that we get them chiefly as we convey…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-mason/education-is-a-life-that-life-is-sustained-on-ideas-ideas-are-of/)

[Charlotte Mason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-mason/)

> [Human life itself may be almost pure chaos, but the work of the artist is to take these handfuls of confusion and disparate things,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/human-life-itself-may-be-almost-pure-chaos-but-the-work-of-the-artist/)

[Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/)

> [“That we can prescribe the terms of our own success, that we can live outside or in ignorance of the Great Economy are the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/that-we-can-prescribe-the-terms-of-our-own-success-that-we-can-live/)

[Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/)

> [Global is a unifying bond for people. Once they get outside their own heads and their own communities and see themselves in a broader…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathy-calvin/global-is-a-unifying-bond-for-people-once-they-get-outside-their-own/)

[Kathy Calvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathy-calvin/)

> [Information from destructive activities going back a hundred years right up until today is being incorporated into the system. And as that happens the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-hawken/information-from-destructive-activities-going-back-a-hundred-years/)

[Paul Hawken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-hawken/)

> [To invest successfully over a lifetime does not require a stratospheric IQ, unusual business insights, or inside information. What's needed is a sound intellectual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warren-buffett/to-invest-successfully-over-a-lifetime-does-not-require-a/)

[Warren Buffett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warren-buffett/)

> [Although religion might be useful in developing a solid moral framework - and enforcing it - we can quite easily develop moral intuitions without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-winston/although-religion-might-be-useful-in-developing-a-solid-moral/)

[Robert Winston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-winston/)

> [In a democratic nation, power must be linked with responsibility, and obliged to defend and justify itself within the framework of the general good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franklin-d-roosevelt/in-a-democratic-nation-power-must-be-linked-with-responsibility-and/)

[Franklin D. Roosevelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franklin-d-roosevelt/)

> [There is a comfort in rituals, and rituals provide a framework for stability when you are trying to find answers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-norville/there-is-a-comfort-in-rituals-and-rituals-provide-a-framework-for/)

[Deborah Norville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-norville/)

## More by Kenneth Minogue

> [“An ideological movement is a collection of people many of whom could hardly bake a cake, fix a car, sustain a friendship or a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/an-ideological-movement-is-a-collection-of-people-many-of-whom-could/)

[Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/)

> [ “Their \[realists'\] concern is that utopian aspirations towards a new peaceful world order will simply absolutize conﬂicts and make them more intractable. National interests… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/their-realists-concern-is-that-utopian-aspirations-towards-a-new/)

[Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/)

> [“From Hobbes’s theory of the sovereign ruling by authority to Max Weber 250 years later, defining the state in terms of a monopoly of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/from-hobbes-s-theory-of-the-sovereign-ruling-by-authority-to-max/)

[Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/)

> [Moral vices prosper by dressing themselves as virtues.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/moral-vices-prosper-by-dressing-themselves-as-virtues/)

[Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/)

> [Capitalism is what people do if you leave them alone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/capitalism-is-what-people-do-if-you-leave-them-alone/)

[Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/)

> [“Dynasties rise and fall according to what the Chinese used to call ‘the mandate of heaven’, but life for the peasant changes little.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/dynasties-rise-and-fall-according-to-what-the-chinese-used-to-call/)

[Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/)

> [“The story of liberalism, as liberals tell it, is rather like the legend of St. George and the dragon. After many centuries of hopelessness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/the-story-of-liberalism-as-liberals-tell-it-is-rather-like-the-legend/)

[Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/)

> [“My concern with democracy is highly specific. It begins in observing the remarkable fact that, while democracy means a government accountable to the electorate,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/my-concern-with-democracy-is-highly-specific-it-begins-in-observing/)

[Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/)

> [If the central contest of the twentieth century has pitted capitalism against socialism, then F. A. Hayek has been its central figure. He helped…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/if-the-central-contest-of-the-twentieth-century-has-pitted-capitalism/)

[Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/)

> [“Public respect for politicians has long been declining, even as the population at large has been seduced into responding to each new problem by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/public-respect-for-politicians-has-long-been-declining-even-as-the/)

[Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/)

> [Theodore Dalrymple is a brilliant observer of both medicine and society, and his book wittily engages with two versions of the current nonsense: orthodox…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/theodore-dalrymple-is-a-brilliant-observer-of-both-medicine-and/)

[Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/)

> [“Olympianism is the characteristic belief system of today’s secularist, and it has itself many of the features of a religion. For one thing, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/olympianism-is-the-characteristic-belief-system-of-today-s-secularist/)

[Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/)

> [“To be conservative in politics is to take one’s bearings not from the latest bright idea about how to make a better world, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/to-be-conservative-in-politics-is-to-take-one-s-bearings-not-from-the/)

[Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/)

> [“The evident problem with democracy today is that the state is pre-empting—or “crowding out,” as the economists say—our moral judgments. Rulers are adding moral…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/the-evident-problem-with-democracy-today-is-that-the-state-is-pre/)

[Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/)

> [“The failure of Communism was consecrated in the fall of the Soviet Union. The remarkable thing is that, as in most cases when prophecy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/the-failure-of-communism-was-consecrated-in-the-fall-of-the-soviet/)

[Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/)

[Explore all 19 Kenneth Minogue quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/)

## 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": "Politics is the activity by which the framework of human life is sustained; it is not life itself.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Kenneth Minogue"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/politics-is-the-activity-by-which-the-framework-of-human-life-is/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Activity"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/politics-is-the-activity-by-which-the-framework-of-human-life-is/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3fd/kenneth-minogue-28215_activity_politics-is-the-activity-by-which-the-fr_884120.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3fd/kenneth-minogue-28215_activity_politics-is-the-activity-by-which-the-fr_884120.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3fd/kenneth-minogue-28215_activity_politics-is-the-activity-by-which-the-fr_884120.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Politics is the activity by which the framework of human life is sustained; it is not life itself.” — Kenneth Minogue",
                "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": "Kenneth Minogue",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Politics is the activity by which...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/politics-is-the-activity-by-which-the-framework-of-human-life-is/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/politics-is-the-activity-by-which-the-framework-of-human-life-is/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
