Envy Quotes

A woman has two smiles that an angel might envy, the smile that accepts a lover before words are uttered, and the smile that lights on the first born babe, and assures it of a mother's love.

Thomas C. Haliburton

Few men have the natural strength to honour a friend's success without envy.

Aeschylus

If the crow had been satisfied to eat his prey in silence, he would have had more meat and less quarreling and envy.

Horace, Epistles

The world of empirical morality consists for the most part of nothing but ill will and envy.

Goethe

The ineffable joy of forgiving and being forgiven forms an ecstasy that might well arouse the envy of the gods

Elbert Hubbard

In the race of men is much greed and envy; but of truth, little.

Lloyd Chudley Alexander

The best means by which a slave seeks proximity to God after recognising Him, is praying, benevolence to the parents, and abandonment of envy, self-conceit and vaunting.

Musa al-Kadhim

These golden matters Of Gyges and his treasuries Are no concern of mine. Jealousy has no power over me, Nor do I envy a god his work, And I do not burn to rule. Such things have no Fascination for my eyes.

Archilochus

Pride, Envy, and Avarice are the three sparks that have set these hearts on fire.

Durante degli Alighieri

Lasting peace is sought, it is essential to adopt international measures to improve the lot of the masses. The welfare of the entire human race must replace hunger and oppression. People of the world must be taught to give up envy, avarice and rancour.

Mustafa Kemal Atatrk

You must attend to this matter. While being completely law-abiding, some people are imprisoned, treated harshly and even killed without cause so that many people suffer. Therefore your aim should be to act with impartiality. It is because of these things envy, anger, cruelty, hate, indifference, laziness or tiredness that such a thing does not happen. Therefore your aim should be: "May these things not be in me." And the root of this is non-anger and patience. Those who are bored with the administration of justice will not be promoted; (those who are not) will move upwards and be promoted. Whoever among you understands this should say to his colleagues: "See that you do your duty properly. Such and such are Beloved-of-the-Gods' instructions." Great fruit will result from doing your duty, while failing in it will result in gaining neither heaven nor the king's pleasure. Failure in duty on your part will not please me. But done properly, it will win you heaven and you will be discharging your debts to me.

Ashoka the Great

In addition to the animal essence, we have something that is above animal existence. This something is called our egoism. It is based on our aspirations to wealth, honor, fame, power, and knowledge. Animals do not have these aspirations [...] envy, inclination to pleasures, and aspiration to honor. These aspirations bring a person to a level above the animal. Since they are above animal qualities, these aspirations and qualities are praiseworthy. On the other hand, their common natural utilization puts us below all other levels [i.e. still, vegetative, and animate].

Yehuda Ashlag

Shaw's emotional development was one with his intellectual strength. His path led him into the thick of the scrimmage, where more spontaneous natures defend themselves with the usual weapons of malice, humility, bad temper or conceit. But Shaw used the death ray of imperturbability. His feelings were never hurt, his envy never aroused, his conceit was a transparent fiction, he never quarreled.

Jacques Barzun

When I behold the skylark move in perfect joy towards its love the sun, when I behold the skylark, growing drunk with joy, forget the use of wings, so that it topples from the height of heavens, I envy the bird's fate.

Bernart de Ventadorn

The dullard's envy of brilliant men is always assuaged by the suspicion that they will come to a bad end.

Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm