Every man judges his own happiness and satisfaction with life in terms of his possession or lack of possession of those things that he considers worthwhile and valuable.

The statement frames happiness as a subjective evaluation rather than an objective condition: people feel satisfied or dissatisfied according to whether they believe they possess what they personally rank as “worthwhile and valuable.” It implies that well-being depends less on absolute circumstances than on an individual’s value system and perceived attainment. The quote also hints at a moral-psychological claim: change what you prize (or how you measure “possession”) and you may change your experience of happiness. Read this way, it functions as a general theory of contentment grounded in desire, valuation, and perceived fulfillment rather than in universal standards.