Envy is the most stupid of vices, for there is no single advantage to be gained from it.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
Envy lies between two beings equal in nature though unequal in circumstances.
—Jeremy Collier (1650–1726) Anglican Church Historian, Clergyman
None of the affections have been noted to fascinate and bewitch but envy.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Men are so constituted that every one undertakes what he sees another successful in, whether he has aptitude for it or not.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
As a moth gnaws a garment, so doth envy consume a man.
—John Chrysostom (c.347–407 CE) Archbishop of Constantinople
Envy lurks at the bottom of the human heart, like a viper in its hole.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
Other passions have objects to flatter them, and which seem to content and satisfy them for a while.—There is power in ambition, pleasure in luxury, and pelf in covetousness; but envy can gain nothing but vexation.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
His scorn of the great is repeated too often to be real; no man thinks much of that which he despises.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
A show of envy is an insult to oneself.
—Yevgeny Yevtushenko (1933–2017) Russian Poet, Dissident
I said to myself: “You mean all those people out there that I’ve been envying because they’re not afraid to move ahead with their lives have really been afraid? Why didn’t somebody tell me!?” I guess I never asked.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
To cure jealousy is to see it for what it is, a dissatisfaction with self.
—Joan Didion (1934–2021) American Essayist, Novelist, Memoirist
Envy is ignorance. Imitation is suicide.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
It is not greed that drives the world, but envy.
—Warren Buffett (b.1930) American Investor
Envy is ever joined with the comparing of a man’s self; and where there is no comparison, no envy.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
In jealousy there is more of self-love, than of, love to another.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
The idea of caring that someone is making money faster [than you] is one of the deadly sins. Envy is a really stupid sin because it’s the only one you could never possibly have any fun at. There’s a lot of pain and no fun. Why would you want to get on that trolley?
—Charlie Munger (b.1924) American Investor, Philanthropist
A man that hath no virtue in himself ever envieth virtue in others; for men’s minds will either feed upon their own good, or upon others’ evil; and who wanteth the one will prey upon the other; and whoso is out of hope to attain to another’s virtue, will seek to come at even hand by depressing another’s fortune.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Envy sets the stronger seal on desert; if he have no enemies, I should esteem his fortune most wretched.
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English Dramatist, Poet, Actor
How much better a thing it is to be envied than to be pitied.
—Herodotus (c.485–425 BCE) Ancient Greek Historian
If envy, like anger, did not burn itself in its own fire, and consume and destroy those persons it possesses before it can destroy those it wishes worst to, it would set the whole world on fire, and leave the most excellent persons the most miserable.
—Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon (1609–74) English Statesman, Historian
Envy feeds on the living. It ceases when they are dead.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
No metal can—no, not the hangman’s axe—bear half the keenness of thy sharp envy.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Envy ought to have no place allowed it in the heart of man; for the goods of this present world are so vile and low that they are beneath it, and those of the future world are so vast and exalted that they are above it.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
It was well said that envy keeps no holidays.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
There is nothing more counterproductive than envy. Someone in the world will always be better than you. Of all the sins, envy is easily the worst, because you can’t even have any fun with it. It’s a total net loss.
—Charlie Munger (b.1924) American Investor, Philanthropist
Envy, like the worm, never runs but to the fairest fruit; like a cunning blood hound, it singles out the fattest deer in the flock.—Abraham’s riches were the Philistines’ envy, and Jacob’s blessings had Esau’s hatred.
—Francis Beaumont (1584–1616) English Dramatist
There is no sweeter sound than the crumbling of ones fellow man.
—Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American Actor, Comedian, Singer
There is no surer mark of the absence of the highest moral and intellectual qualities than a cold reception of excellence.
—Gamaliel Bailey (1807–59) American Journalist
Jealousy is the tribute mediocrity pays to genius.
—Fulton J. Sheen (1895–1979) American Catholic Religious Leader, Theologian
All the world is competent to judge my pictures except those who are of my profession.
—William Hogarth (1697–1764) English Painter, Engraver
Envy is the antagonist of the fortunate.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
The heaven of the envied is hell for the envious.
—Baltasar Gracian (1601–58) Spanish Scholar, Prose Writer
Jealousy is not a barometer by which the depth of love can be read. It merely records the degree of the lover’s insecurity.
—Margaret Mead (1901–78) American Anthropologist, Social Psychologist
Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.
—Gore Vidal (1925–48) American Novelist, Essayist, Journalist, Playwright
If envy were a fever, all the world would be ill.
—Danish Proverb
Men of noble birth are noted to be envious toward new men when they rise; for the distance is altered; it is like a deceit of the eye, that when others come on they think themselves go back.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
I envy animals for two things – their ignorance of evil to come, and their ignorance of what is said about them.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Envy assails the noblest: the winds howl around the highest peaks.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
He will be loved when dead, who was envied when he was living.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
Envy is the tax which all distinction must pay.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Mediocrity doesn’t mean average intelligence, it means an average intelligence that resents and envies its betters.
—Ayn Rand (1905–82) Russian-born American Novelist, Philosopher
Let age, not envy, draw wrinkles on thy cheeks.
—Thomas Browne (1605–82) English Author, Physician
If we did but know how little some enjoy of the great things that they possess, there would not be much envy in the world.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
Few men have the natural strength to honor a friend’s success without envy.
—Aeschylus (525–456 BCE) Greek Playwright
Envy consists in seeing things never in themselves, but only in their relations. If you desire glory, you may envy Napoleon, but Napoleon envied Caesar, Caesar envied Alexander, and Alexander, I daresay, envied Hercules, who never existed.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
Envy among other ingredients has a mixture of the love of justice in it. We are more angry at undeserved than at deserved good-fortune.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
The benevolent have the advantage of the envious, even in this present life; for the envious man is tormented not only by all the ill that befalls himself, but by all the good that happens to another; whereas the benevolent man is the better prepared to bear his own calamities unruffled, from the complacency and serenity he has secured from contemplating the prosperity of all around him.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
The envious person grows lean with the fatness of their neighbor.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Nothing sharpens sight like envy.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
The envious die not once, but as oft as the envied win applause.
—Baltasar Gracian (1601–58) Spanish Scholar, Prose Writer