Quotes about envy

He who goes unenvied shall not be admired.

— Aeschylus

As iron is eaten away by rust, so the envious are consumed by their own passion.

— Antisthenes

None of the affections have been noted to fascinate and bewitch but envy.

— Francis Bacon

The envied are like bureaucrats; the more impersonal they are, the greater the illusion (for themselves and for others) of their power.

— John Berger

Envy and wrath shorten the life. [Ecclesiasticus]

— Bible

Let age, not envy, draw wrinkles on thy cheeks.

— Sir Thomas Browne

I never admire another's fortune so much that I became dissatisfied with my own.

— Marcus T. Cicero

Envy is the tax which all distinction must pay.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Some folks rail against other folks, because other folks have what some folks would be glad of.

— Henry Fielding

Nothing sharpens sight like envy.

— Thomas Fuller

Fools may our scorn, not envy, raise. For envy is a kind of praise.

— John Gay

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

The envious die not once, but as oft as the envied win applause.

— Baltasar Gracian

Helpless, unknown, and unremembered, most human beings, however sensitive, idealistic, intelligent, go through life as passengers rather than chauffeurs. Although we may pretend that it is the chauffeur who is the social inferior, most of us, like Toad of Toad Hall, would not mind a turn at the wheel ourselves.

— Ralph Harper

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

How much better a thing it is to be envied than to be pitied.

— Herodotus

All the world is competent to judge my pictures except those who are of my profession.

— William Hogarth

He will be loved when dead, who was envied when he was living.

— Horace

His scorn of the great is repeated too often to be real; no man thinks much of that which he despises.

— Samuel Johnson

The sure mark of one born with noble qualities is being born without envy.

— Francois De La Rochefoucauld

It is not enough to succeed, others must fail.

— Francois De La Rochefoucauld

Envy is more irreconcilable than hatred.

— Francois De La Rochefoucauld

There is no sweeter sound than the crumbling of ones fellow man.

— Groucho Marx

Envy is honors foe.

— Motto

Envy feeds on the living, after death it rests, then the honor of a man protects him.

— Ovid

Envy aims very high.

— Ovid

Rust consumes iron and envy consumes itself.

— Danish Proverb

Envy eats nothing, but its own heart.

— German Proverb

They that envy others are their inferiors.

— Saying

Oh, what a bitter thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes.

— William Shakespeare

The envious person grows lean with the fatness of their neighbor.

— Socrates

Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.

— Gore Vidal

If you look to the lives of others, you’ll always find yourself lacking. Look instead at what you have, and be grateful.

— Source Unknown

Man will do many things to get himself loved; he will do all things to get himself envied.

— Mark Twain