Envious Quotes

• Envy comes from people's ignorance of, or lack of belief in, their own gifts.

  Jean Vanier

  Ignorance, People, Envy

  Jean Vanier, Ann Shearer (1989). “Community and Growth”, p.51, Paulist Press

  18 Copy quote

  Show source

• It always comes back to our insecurities, as we say, "Oh, I'm not as good as you." So instead of accepting that perhaps I am not as good as someone else in some ways and being comfortable with who I am as I am, I spend all my time denigrating you, trying to cut you down to my self-perceived size. The sad problem is that we see ourselves as being quite terribly small. Instead of spending my time being envious, I need to celebrate your and my different gifts, even if mine are perhaps less spectacular than yours.

  Desmond Tutu

  Cutting, Self, Who I Am

  10 Copy quote

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

  Socrates

  Philosophical, Envy, Neighbor

  55 Copy quote

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

  Thomas Browne

  Wrinkles, Envy, Age

  Sir Thomas Browne (1716). “Christian Morals”, p.10

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves.

  William Penn

  Inspirational, Jealousy, Envy

  William Penn (1782). “The Select Works of William Penn....”, p.188

  61 Copy quote

  Show source

• Love looks through a telescope; envy, through a microscope.

  Josh Billings

  Relationship, Jealousy, Hate

  Josh Billings (1874). “Everybody's Friend, Or Josh Billing's Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor”, p.304

  76 Copy quote

  Show source

• Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.

  Gautama Buddha

  Inspiring, Wise, Peace

  13 Copy quote
• 

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

  Baltasar Gracian

  Jealousy, Winning, Envy

  32 Copy quote

• The greatest harm that you can do unto the envious, is to do well.

  John Lyly

  Envy, Harm, Wells

  John Lyly, Leah Scragg (2003). “John Lyly 'Euphues: the Anatomy of Wit' and 'Euphues and His England': An Annotated, Modern-Spelling Edition”, p.120, Manchester University Press

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

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

  John Gay

  Envy, May, Fool

  John Gay, Thomas Park (1808). “The Poetical Works of John Gay: In Three Volumes. Collated with the Best Editions:”, p.76

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• Jealousy is the fear or apprehension of superiority: envy our uneasiness under it.

  William Shenstone

  Jealousy, Envy, Apprehension

  William Shenstone (1804). “Essays on Men and Manners”, p.137

  21 Copy quote

  Show source

• What so pure, which envious tongues will spare?
  Some wicked wits have libell'd all the fair,
  With matchless impudence they style a wife,
  The dear-bought curse, and lawful plague of life;
  A bosom serpent, a domestic evil,
  A night invasion, and a mid-day devil;
  Let not the wise these sland'rous words regard,
  But curse the bones of ev'ry living bard.

  Alexander Pope

  Wise, Night, Evil

  Alexander Pope (1839). “The Poetical Works of A. Pope, Esq: With an Account of the Life and Writings of the Author”, p.221

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• As time went on, I got envious and wanted to do a lot of stunts myself

  Lloyd Bridges

  Stuntman, Wanted

  9 Copy quote

• The envious man grows lean at the success of his neighbor.

  Horace

  Congratulations, Men, Neighbor

  10 Copy quote
• 

  Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.

  Winston Churchill

  Philosophy, Ignorance, Democratic Socialism

  Speech at the Scottish Unionist Conference, Perth, Scotland, May 28, 1948.

  541 Copy quote

  Show source

• I'm very envious of the few artists who are any good and still do portraits.

  Howard Hodgkin

  Artist, Portraits, Stills

  7 Copy quote

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

  Antisthenes

  Jealousy, Anger, Passion

  "Lives and Opinions of the Eminent Philosophers (§ 5)". Book by Diogenes Laertius, circa 200 AD.

  43 Copy quote

  Show source

• Man is by nature competitive, combative, ambitious, jealous, envious, and vengeful.

  Arthur Keith

  Jealous, Men, Ambitious

  Sir Arthur Keith (1947). “Evolution and Ethics”

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• Those who are believed to be most abject and humble are usually most ambitious and envious.

  Baruch Spinoza

  Humble, Humility, Ambitious

  23 Copy quote

• An envious heart makes a treacherous ear.

  Zora Neale Hurston

  Heart, Ears, Treacherous

  Zora Neale Hurston (1937). “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, p.8, University of Illinois Press

  16 Copy quote

  Show source

• Envy's a coal comes hissing hot from Hell.

  Philip James Bailey

  Envy, Coal, Hot

  Philip James Bailey (1845). “Festus: A Poem”, p.86

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• The envious pine at others' success; no greater punishment than envy was devised by Sicilian tyrants.

  Horace

  Punishment, Tyrants, Envy

  "Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations" by Jehiel Keeler Hoyt, p. 226-27, Epistles, I. 2. 57, 1922.

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• Nature, more of a stepmother than a mother in several ways, has sown a seed of evil in the hearts of mortals, especially in the more thoughtful men, which makes them dissatisfied with their own lot and envious of another s.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Mother, Nature, Heart

  Desiderius Erasmus, Erika Rummel (1990). “The Erasmus Reader”, p.156, University of Toronto Press

  55 Copy quote

  Show source

• I never understood the nudity thing. I’m so envious of people who can walk around naked.

  Robert Pattinson

  People, Naked, Nudity

  7 Copy quote

• Corruption wins not more than honesty. Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace, To silence envious tongues.

  William Shakespeare

  Peace, Honesty, Winning

  'Henry VIII' (1613) act 3, sc. 2, l. 441

  6 Copy quote

  Show source