Literary notes about prosperity (AI summary)
The term "prosperity" appears throughout literature as a multifaceted concept that transcends mere material wealth. In many classical texts, it is linked to divine favor and fate, as seen where spiritual or cosmic forces are said to bestow prosperity on kings and heroes ([1], [2], [3]). At the same time, writers have used it to evoke the broader fortunes of nations and empires, highlighting the fluctuating nature of wealth and power in society ([4], [5], [6]). In economic and political treatises, prosperity is often discussed as both a goal and a condition subject to human endeavor and, at times, moral decay, suggesting its transient quality and the fine balance between success and downfall ([7], [8], [9]). Whether presented as an individual blessing or the hallmark of a flourishing state, prosperity consistently functions as a powerful symbol of well-being and harmonious order across diverse literary works ([10], [11], [12]).
- If this thy sister, this maid of the Vrishni race, becometh my wife, truly may I win prosperity in everything.
— from The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 - Constantine, i. 219 , etc.; the prosperity granted to, by God, 223 , etc.
— from The City of God, Volume II by Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine - (l. 8) Be gracious, Hephaestus, and grant me success and prosperity!
— from Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica by Hesiod - The last three hundred years had been consumed in apparent prosperity and internal decline.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - Then the wedding festivities commenced, which lasted four weeks, and they lived together in happiness and prosperity for many a pleasant year.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - How came they to wrest from Spain and Portugal a colonial empire, which they hold to-day without loss of prosperity or evidence of decline?
— from A History of the Philippines by David P. Barrows - A comfortable career of prosperity, if it does not make people honest, at least keeps them so.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray - The owner of a cow which has vomited such a ball, regards it as a propitious augury for the prosperity of his family.
— from Omens and Superstitions of Southern India by Edgar Thurston - Job Chapter 20 Sophar declares the shortness of the prosperity of the wicked: and their sudden downfall.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - Nor has the extent of your prosperity produced any change in you, except that it has given you the power of doing good to the utmost of your wishes.
— from The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6) by the Elder Pliny - He had made a covenant with them; and, in return for their obedience and allegiance, cared for their interests and advanced their national prosperity.
— from Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Essay by Immanuel Kant - On close inspection we shall find that religion, and not fear, has ever been the cause of the long-lived prosperity of an absolute government.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 1 by Alexis de Tocqueville