Envy Quotes - Page 3

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

  Jean Vanier

  Ignorance, People, Gossip

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

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• Only a man's character is the real criterion of worth.

  Eleanor Roosevelt

  Real, Character, Men

  Eleanor Roosevelt, David Emblidge (2009). “My Day: The Best of Eleanor Roosevelt's Acclaimed Newspaper Columns, 1936-1962”, p.93, Da Capo Press

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• There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Education, Suicide, Hope

  "Essays: First Series, Self-Reliance". Book by Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841.

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• Failure comes from ego, greed, envy, fear, imitation. I have success not because I am smart, but because I am rational.

  Warren Buffett

  Smart, Gossip, Greed

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• What cowardice it is to be dismayed by the happiness of others and devastated by there good fortune.

  Baron de Montesquieu

  Cowardice, Fortune, Dismayed

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• You have been overcome; and whether you are overcome by envy or by a so-called noble influence, you are still a slave, you are not free.

  Jiddu Krishnamurti

  Overcoming, Noble, Influence

  Jiddu Krishnamurti (1956). “Commentaries on Living”, p.127, Penguin Books India

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• Envy is the antagonist of the fortunate.

  Epictetus

  Antagonist, Fortunate

  Epictetus (2012). “Enchiridion”, p.60, Courier Corporation

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• Nothing is more subtly destructive than a closed circle of artists feeding on one another. Envy grows from insignificant differences between people, not from overwhelming inequalities... it was envy that forced them to emulate each other, not esteem.

  Alexander Theroux

  Artist, Circles, Differences

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• The laws would not prevent each man from living according to his inclination, unless individuals harmed each other; for envy creates the beginning of strife.

  Democritus

  Men, Law, Individual

  "Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers: A Complete Translation of the Fragments in Diels Fragmente Der Vorsokratiker", translated by Kathleen Freeman, Harvard University Press, (p. 166), 1948.

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• The envious will die, but envy never.
  [Fr., Les envieux mourront, mais non jamais l'envie.]

  Moliere

  Envious, Dies

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• There are as many mediocrities exalted through pity as masters decried through envy.

  Honore de Balzac

  Mediocrity, Pity, Masters

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• Envy is an ill-natured vice, and is made up of meanness and malice. It wishes the force of goodness to be strained, and the measure of happiness abated. It laments over prosperity, and sickens at the sight of health. It oftentimes wants spirit as well as good nature.

  Jeremy Collier

  Sight, Wish, Want

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• There is no sweeter sound than the crumbling of one's fellow man.

  Groucho Marx

  Drinking, Inspiration, Men

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• Envy has the ugliness of a trapped rat that has gnawed its own foot in its effort to escape.

  Angus Wilson

  Feet, Effort, Rats

  Angus Wilson (1962). “The seven deadly sins”, Beaufort Books

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• There is much less envy of the rich by the poor than there is of the happy by the unhappy; by those who believe, by those who don't believe.

  Dennis Prager

  Believe, Unhappy, Rich

  "Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• The living will envy the dead.

  Nikita Khrushchev

  "Hiding from the Bomb — Again". Harper’s, p. 36, www.bartleby.com. August 1979.

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• Trifles light as air are to the jealous confirmations strong as proofs of holy writ.

  William Shakespeare

  Jealousy, Strong, Light

  'Othello' (1602-4) act 3, sc. 3, l. 323

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• The truest mark of being born with great qualities is to be born without envy.

  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

  Happiness, Jealousy, Quality

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• All envy is proportionate to desire; we are uneasy at the attainments of another, according as we think our own happiness would be advanced by the addition of that which he withholds from us.

  Samuel Johnson

  Thinking, Desire, Would Be

  Samuel Johnson, Elizabeth Carter, Samuel Richardson, Catherine Talbot (1825). “The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752”, p.31

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• It is impossible not to envy the man who can dismiss reason, although we know how it must turn out at last.

  Charles Sanders Peirce

  Men, Lasts, Impossible

  Charles Sanders Peirce, Nathan Houser, Christian J.W. J. W. Kloesel (1992). “The Essential Peirce, Volume 1: Selected Philosophical Writings? (1867–1893)”, p.122, Indiana University Press

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• Envy is never general, but always very particular - at least envy of the kind one feels strongly.

  Joseph Epstein

  Kind, Feels, Particular

  Joseph Epstein (2003). “Envy: The Seven Deadly Sins”, p.5, Oxford University Press

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• Envy is blind, and she has no other quality than that of detracting from virtue

  Livy

  Inspirational, Quality, Blind

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• We make ourselves fools to disport ourselves And spend our flatteries to drink those men Upon whose age we void it up again With poisonous spite and envy.

  William Shakespeare

  Men, Age, Void

  William Shakespeare (1812). “The Works of William Shakespeare”, p.22

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• Envy lies between two beings equal in nature though unequal in circumstances.

  Jeremy Collier

  Lying, Two, Circumstances

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• Jealousy in romance is like salt in food. A little can enhance the savor, but too much can spoil the pleasure and, under certain circumstances, can be life-threatening.

  Maya Angelou

  Jealousy, Romance, Littles

  Maya Angelou (2011). “Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now”, p.60, Bantam

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