--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Man is not a being whose exclusive…" description: "\"“Man is not a being whose exclusive purpose in life is eating, drinking, and providing a shelter for himself. As soon as his material wants are satisfi..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6f/pyotr-kropotkin-15647_daily-work_man-is-not-a-being-whose-exclusive-purpo_3212564.jpg" --- # Man is not a being whose exclusive purpose in life is… ![“Man is not a being whose exclusive purpose in life is eating, drinking, and providing a shelter for himself. As soon as his material wants are satisfied, other needs, which, generally speaking, may be described as of an artistic character, will thrust themselves forward. These needs are of the…” quote by Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6f/pyotr-kropotkin-15647_daily-work_man-is-not-a-being-whose-exclusive-purpo_3212564.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6f/pyotr-kropotkin-15647_daily-work_man-is-not-a-being-whose-exclusive-purpo_3212564.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6f/pyotr-kropotkin-15647_daily-work_man-is-not-a-being-whose-exclusive-purpo_3212564.jpg) > ““Man is not a being whose exclusive purpose in life is eating, drinking, and providing a shelter for himself. As soon as his material wants are satisfied, other needs, which, generally speaking, may be described as of an artistic character, will thrust themselves forward. These needs are of the greatest variety; they vary with each and every individual; and the more society is civilized, the more will individuality be developed, and the more will desires be varied. Even today we see men and women denying themselves necessaries to acquire mere trifles, to obtain some particular gratification, or some intellectual or material enjoyment. A Christian or an ascetic may disapprove of these desires for luxury; but it is precisely these trifles that break the monotony of existence and make it agreeable. Would life, with all its inevitable drudge and sorrows, be worth living, if, besides daily work, man could never obtain a single pleasure according to his individual tastes?”” [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human fulfillment extends beyond basic survival to artistic and individual desires that give life meaning and variety. **In simple terms:** Beyond survival, people need personal pleasures and creative expression. Key Takeaway Pursue personal passions after basic needs are met. Themes individuality creativity pleasure civilization human nature Mood reflective inspirational thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - career growth - artistic pursuits - personal hobbies - intellectual exploration Key Concepts Maslow hierarchy self‑actualization cultural development Questions to Reflect On - What personal pleasure have you neglected? - How does creativity counter monotony? A Different Perspective Even with basic needs met, societal pressure can suppress individual desires. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Civilized Individuality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilized-individuality-6007371/) [Daily work](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/daily-work/) [Desire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desire/) [Desires](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desires/) [Gratification Intellectual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gratification-intellectual-4557359/) [Individuality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individuality/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Men and women](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men-and-women/) [Particular Gratification](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/particular-gratification-6007372/) [Purpose In Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/purpose-in-life/) [Worth living](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/worth-living/) ## Related quotes > [Kitsch offers instantaneous emotional gratification without intellectual effort, without the requirement of distance, wihtout sublimation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/kitsch-offers-instantaneous-emotional-gratification-without/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [I used to think hard work made me come alive, honestly. I used to have a daily work schedule with millions of things on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/li-bingbing/i-used-to-think-hard-work-made-me-come-alive-honestly-i-used-to-have/) [Li Bingbing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/li-bingbing/) > [“Nothing about the daily workings of the prison system focuses its inhabitants’ attention on what life back on the outside, as a free citizen,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/piper-kerman/nothing-about-the-daily-workings-of-the-prison-system-focuses-its/) [Piper Kerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/piper-kerman/) > [Results should not be too voluntarily aimed at or too busily thought of. They are sure to float up of their own accord from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/results-should-not-be-too-voluntarily-aimed-at-or-too-busily-thought/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [“we value improvement of our daily work more than daily work itself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/we-value-improvement-of-our-daily-work-more-than-daily-work-itself/) [Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/) > [The Prophet introduced a system of prayer in that it was interwoven into man's daily work: a prayer in the morning when he arose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muhammad-ali/the-prophet-introduced-a-system-of-prayer-in-that-it-was-interwoven/) [Muhammad Ali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muhammad-ali/) > [“Grandpa, in his male armchair, deaf aid occasionally whistling and pipe making a hubble-bubble noise as he sucked on it, would shake his head…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-barnes/grandpa-in-his-male-armchair-deaf-aid-occasionally-whistling-and-pipe/) [Julian Barnes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-barnes/) > [I guess we all like to be recognized not for one piece of fireworks, but for the ledger of our daily work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-armstrong/i-guess-we-all-like-to-be-recognized-not-for-one-piece-of-fireworks/) [Neil Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-armstrong/) > [“You're thinking of revolution as a great all-or-nothing. I think of it as one more morning in a muggy cotton field, checking the undersides…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-kingsolver/you-re-thinking-of-revolution-as-a-great-all-or-nothing-i-think-of-it/) [Barbara Kingsolver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-kingsolver/) > [The welfare, the happiness, the energy and spirit of the men and women who do the daily workis the underlying necessity of all prosperity……](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woodrow-wilson/the-welfare-the-happiness-the-energy-and-spirit-of-the-men-and-women/) [Woodrow Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woodrow-wilson/) > [Once you are accustomed to giving your body a daily workout, you feel constrained when you don't exercise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-ellen/once-you-are-accustomed-to-giving-your-body-a-daily-workout-you-feel/) [Vera-Ellen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-ellen/) > [“Wars and elections are both too big and too small to matter in the long run. The daily work--that goes on, and it adds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-kingsolver/wars-and-elections-are-both-too-big-and-too-small-to-matter-in-the/) [Barbara Kingsolver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-kingsolver/) > [“Joyfully we undertake our daily work.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/joyfully-we-undertake-our-daily-work/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [Our daily work ethic - that need to always do better and top our last performance - is what makes USWNT football players who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ali-krieger/our-daily-work-ethic-that-need-to-always-do-better-and-top-our-last/) [Ali Krieger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-krieger/) > [“Sometimes its was better to keep silent, Because when we are silent we know what we forget back in life, In this fast daily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pradeep-h-hivare/sometimes-its-was-better-to-keep-silent-because-when-we-are-silent-we/) [Pradeep H Hivare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pradeep-h-hivare/) ## More by Pyotr Kropotkin > [“Wage-work is serf-work; it cannot, it must not, produce all that it could produce. And it is high time to disbelieve the legend which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/wage-work-is-serf-work-it-cannot-it-must-not-produce-all-that-it/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“They say, 'No private property', and immediately after strive to maintain private property in its daily manifestations. 'You shall be a commune as far…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/they-say-no-private-property-and-immediately-after-strive-to-maintain/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“Because, to do manual work now, means in reality to shut yourself up for ten or twelve hours a day in an unhealthy workshop,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/because-to-do-manual-work-now-means-in-reality-to-shut-yourself-up/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“In our civilized societies we are rich. Why then are the many poor? Why this painful drudgery for the masses? Why, even to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/in-our-civilized-societies-we-are-rich-why-then-are-the-many-poor-why/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“No, plenty for all is not a dream – though it was a dream indeed in those days when man, for all his pains,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/no-plenty-for-all-is-not-a-dream-though-it-was-a-dream-indeed-in/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“Whole columns are devoted to parliamentary debates and to political intrigues; while the vast everyday life of a nation appears only in the columns…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/whole-columns-are-devoted-to-parliamentary-debates-and-to-political/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“All that was once looked on as a function of the government is today called in question. Things are arranged more easily and more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/all-that-was-once-looked-on-as-a-function-of-the-government-is-today/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“Very often the idler is but a man to whom it is repugnant to spend all his life making the eighteenth part of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/very-often-the-idler-is-but-a-man-to-whom-it-is-repugnant-to-spend/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“What interest, in fact, can this depressing work have for the worker, when he knows that the fate awaiting him from the cradle to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/what-interest-in-fact-can-this-depressing-work-have-for-the-worker/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“The history of human thought recalls the swinging of a pendulum which takes centuries to swing. After a long period of slumber comes a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/the-history-of-human-thought-recalls-the-swinging-of-a-pendulum-which/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“Should an authoritarian Socialist society ever succeed in establishing itself, it could not last; general discontent would soon force it to break up, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/should-an-authoritarian-socialist-society-ever-succeed-in/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“Well-being for all is not a dream.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/well-being-for-all-is-not-a-dream/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“Collectivists begin by proclaiming a revolutionary principle - the abolition of private property - and then they deny it, no sooner than proclaimed, by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/collectivists-begin-by-proclaiming-a-revolutionary-principle-the/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“Poverty, we have said elsewhere, was the primary cause of wealth. It was poverty that created the first capitalist; because, before accumulating "surplus value,"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/poverty-we-have-said-elsewhere-was-the-primary-cause-of-wealth-it-was/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) > [“That we are utopians is well known. So utopian are we that we go the length of believing that the revolution can and ought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pyotr-kropotkin/that-we-are-utopians-is-well-known-so-utopian-are-we-that-we-go-the/) [Pyotr Kropotkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) [Explore all 41 Pyotr Kropotkin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pyotr-kropotkin/) ## More Daily work quotes > [“Sometimes its was better to keep silent, Because when we are silent we know what we forget back in life, In this fast daily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pradeep-h-hivare/sometimes-its-was-better-to-keep-silent-because-when-we-are-silent-we/) [Pradeep H Hivare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pradeep-h-hivare/) > [Our daily work ethic - that need to always do better and top our last performance - is what makes USWNT football players who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ali-krieger/our-daily-work-ethic-that-need-to-always-do-better-and-top-our-last/) [Ali Krieger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ali-krieger/) > [“Joyfully we undertake our daily work.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/joyfully-we-undertake-our-daily-work/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [“Wars and elections are both too big and too small to matter in the long run. The daily work--that goes on, and it adds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-kingsolver/wars-and-elections-are-both-too-big-and-too-small-to-matter-in-the/) [Barbara Kingsolver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-kingsolver/) > [Once you are accustomed to giving your body a daily workout, you feel constrained when you don't exercise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vera-ellen/once-you-are-accustomed-to-giving-your-body-a-daily-workout-you-feel/) [Vera-Ellen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vera-ellen/) > [The welfare, the happiness, the energy and spirit of the men and women who do the daily workis the underlying necessity of all prosperity……](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woodrow-wilson/the-welfare-the-happiness-the-energy-and-spirit-of-the-men-and-women/) [Woodrow Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woodrow-wilson/) > [“You're thinking of revolution as a great all-or-nothing. I think of it as one more morning in a muggy cotton field, checking the undersides…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-kingsolver/you-re-thinking-of-revolution-as-a-great-all-or-nothing-i-think-of-it/) [Barbara Kingsolver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-kingsolver/) > [I guess we all like to be recognized not for one piece of fireworks, but for the ledger of our daily work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-armstrong/i-guess-we-all-like-to-be-recognized-not-for-one-piece-of-fireworks/) [Neil Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-armstrong/) > [“Grandpa, in his male armchair, deaf aid occasionally whistling and pipe making a hubble-bubble noise as he sucked on it, would shake his head…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-barnes/grandpa-in-his-male-armchair-deaf-aid-occasionally-whistling-and-pipe/) [Julian Barnes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-barnes/) > [The Prophet introduced a system of prayer in that it was interwoven into man's daily work: a prayer in the morning when he arose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muhammad-ali/the-prophet-introduced-a-system-of-prayer-in-that-it-was-interwoven/) [Muhammad Ali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muhammad-ali/) > [“we value improvement of our daily work more than daily work itself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/we-value-improvement-of-our-daily-work-more-than-daily-work-itself/) [Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/) > [Results should not be too voluntarily aimed at or too busily thought of. They are sure to float up of their own accord from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/results-should-not-be-too-voluntarily-aimed-at-or-too-busily-thought/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [“Nothing about the daily workings of the prison system focuses its inhabitants’ attention on what life back on the outside, as a free citizen,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/piper-kerman/nothing-about-the-daily-workings-of-the-prison-system-focuses-its/) [Piper Kerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/piper-kerman/) > [I used to think hard work made me come alive, honestly. I used to have a daily work schedule with millions of things on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/li-bingbing/i-used-to-think-hard-work-made-me-come-alive-honestly-i-used-to-have/) [Li Bingbing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/li-bingbing/) > [It feels like it is a daily work and an ongoing task to undo all of the f - - g programming that I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amanda-palmer/it-feels-like-it-is-a-daily-work-and-an-ongoing-task-to-undo-all-of/) [Amanda Palmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amanda-palmer/) [Browse all 120 Daily work quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/daily-work/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Man is not a being whose exclusive purpose in life is eating, drinking, and providing a shelter for himself. As soon as his material wants are satisfied, other needs, which, generally speaking, may be described as of an artistic character, will thrust themselves forward. 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