As meaning but

[angelsrolls]

Hello,
"It does not matter so much where you live, as how well you live there."

Does as in the above sentence have the same meaning as but?

[GoesStation]

More or less. If you want to use "but" in the second clause, you should revise the first: ​Where you live doesn't matter, but how well you live there does.

[angelsrolls]

Now I think about it, there should be no comma between live and as, right? But that way, I understand the sentence to mean both where you live and how well you live there do not matter. Am I mistaken?

[GoesStation]

"It does not matter so much where you live, as how well you live there."

Now I think about it, there should be no comma between live and as, right? But that way, I understand the sentence to mean both where you live and how well you live there do not matter. Am I mistaken?

The quote is in old-fashioned English. Commas were used much more freely at the time it was written. I wouldn't be surprised to see it with the comma omitted in a modern context.

[angelsrolls]

I myself constructed the following sentence. Is it correct?

"Success does not entail so much hard work as smart work", meaning it is smart work that is important in order to be successful, not necessarily hard work.

[GoesStation]

I myself constructed the following sentence. Is it correct?

"Success does not entail so much hard work as smart work", meaning it is smart work that is important in order to be successful, not necessarily hard work.

The use of "as" is correct.

[andrewg927]

Success is not so much about hard work as it is smart work.

[angelsrolls]

@GoesStation
You said "the quote is in old-fashioned English." Just to make it into something more modern English, would it be something like:

It matters more how well you live than where you live.

[GoesStation]

That would be one way to word it. I tried to think of a modern-day equivalent earlier but couldn't come up with anything I liked.

By the way, this thread's title should have set off the words you were asking about in quotation marks:

"As" meaning "but".

[tzfujimino]

I think you meant "... one way to word it."