Envy quotes
878 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside envy — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"All I desire is, that my poverty may not be a burden to myself, or make me so to others; and that is the best state of fortune that is neither directly necessitous nor far from it. A mediocrity of fortune, with gentleness of mind, will preserve us from fear or envy; which is a desirable condition; for no man wants power to do mischief."
"I look at my young students, and I no longer have the sense that, oh, I'm the authority and they have to meet a certain standard. It's like, oh, look at these young ones. They've got such a hard road in front of them. I don't envy them having life ahead of them."
"Ah, if only there were two of me, she thought, one who spoke and the other who listened, one who lived and one who watched, how I would love myself! I would envy no one."
"It was granted to me alone to discover all the new phenomena in the sky and nothing to anybody else. This is the truth which neither envy nor malice can supress."
"With boys I climbed trees, ran races, and wrestled. I had no complexes of envy or inferiority toward boys. At the same time, however, I liked dolls."
"I don't believe in God now. I can still work up an envy for someone who has a faith. I can see how that could be a deeply soothing experience."
"Unlike what you may be told in other sectors of life, when observing the universe, size does matter, which often leads to polite ‘telescope envy’ at gatherings of amateur astronomers."
"Above all, believe it, the sweetest canticle is Nunc dimittis, when a man hath obtained worthy ends and expectations. Death hath this also, that it openeth the gate to good fame, and extinguisheth envy."
"It was well said that envy keeps no holidays."
"Moderation is a fear of falling into that envy and contempt which those who grow giddy with their good fortune quite justly draw upon themselves. It is a vain boasting of the greatness of our mind."
"We often pride ourselves on even the most criminal passions, but envy is a timid and shamefaced passion we never dare to acknowledge."
"For envy, like lightning, generally strikes at the top Or any point which sticks out from the ordinary level. LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura Our envy always outlives the felicity of its object."
"The applause we give those who are new to society often proceeds from a secret envying of those already established."
"That man, we may be sure, is a person of true worth, whom those who envy him most are yet forced to praise."
"I can remember staring at the orphanage and feeling envy."
"When you're famous you kind of run into human nature in a raw kind of way. It stirs up envy, fame does."
"It stirs up envy, fame does."
"Madame Aubain's servant Felicite was the envy of the ladies of Pont-l'Eveque for half a century."
"Wherever good fortune enters, envy lays siege to the place and attacks it; and when it departs, sorrow and repentance remain behind."
"I know the hatred and envy of your hearts. Ye are not great enough not to know of hatred and envy. Then be great enough not to be ashamed of them!"
