According to a study conducted by researchers from Universidad de Zaragoza in Spain, envy is the most prevalent basic personality trait shaping human behavior that is present in almost one-third of the population. In the same study, researchers found that 90% of the population can be divided into four main personality traits: optimistic, pessimistic, trusting, and envious. And guess what, the largest proportion (30%) turned out to be "envious." Although more studies would be required to support these findings, the truth is obvious - everyone has felt envy or jealousy at some point in their lives. However, some cope with these toxic feelings better than others.
That may be envy over someone who gets to go on holiday twice per year, perhaps someone is jealous that one grew up with both parents, or jealous because someone got to eat three times today, not just once. And to be fair, all these reasons are valid. However, envy is not an emotion one should feed off of to gain motivation. It's a negative emotion that only draws hatred. It doesn't inspire nor motivate us to strive for any good.
If you are someone who is struggling to deal with negative emotions, quotes about jealousy and envy can lead you on the right path. Reading through some wise words and inspiring quotes really can make a difference. It's all about how we react and perceive things. Someone having something better than you or living a presumably better life shouldn't make you envy or even hate them.
Often, envy and jealousy are rooted in low self-confidence and unresolved past issues. The many envy quotes and quotes about jealousy condemn these emotions, with some even referring to them as "diseases." Although entirely natural and often detected unintentionally, this germ that is jealousy and envy should be shooed away and not allowed to spread.
Below, we've gathered some inspiring words from many sage individuals, as well as quotes on jealousy and the essence of envy. Let us know if any of the quotes about envy reached the deepest chambers of your heart.
#41
"Five enemies of peace inhabit with us – avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride; if these were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace." — Petrarch
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#42
"Frontrunners always attract envy, and a desperate campaign to stop them in their tracks." — Kwasi Kwarteng
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#43
"Envy and greed starve on a steady diet of thanksgiving." — Billy Graham
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#44
"The truest mark of being born with great qualities is being born without envy." — Francois de La Rochefoucauld
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#45
"It is good to vary in order that you may frustrate the curious, especially those who envy you." — Baltasar Gracian
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#46
"The truth is that we should live with less envy and more cordiality and empathy." — Leonardo Bonucci
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#47
"Don’t envy the harvest of the rich. Envy their planting." — Bo Sanchez
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#48
"Maybe jealousy and envy would fade if we knew the full story behind success. Maybe we would be less likely to put people on a pedestal." — James Clear
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#49
"We love in others what we lack ourselves, and would be everything but what we are." — Richard Henry Stoddard
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#50
"Pride, envy, avarice - these are the sparks have set on fire the hearts of all men." — Dante Alighieri
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#51
"Success makes so many people hate you. I wish it wasn't that way. It would be wonderful to enjoy success without seeing envy in the eyes of those around you." — Marilyn Monroe
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#52
"Envy is the art of counting the other fellow's blessings instead of your own." — Harold Coffin
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#53
"We need criminals to identify ourselves with, to secretly envy and to stoutly punish. They do for us the forbidden, illegal things we wish to do." — Karl A. Menninger
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#54
"I envy paranoids; they actually feel people are paying attention to them." — Susan Sontag
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#55
"With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures, and some books, I live without envy." — Lope de Vega
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#56
"When men are full of envy they disparage everything, whether it be good or bad." — Tacitus
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#57
"Envy, propelled by fear, can be even more toxic than anger because it involves the thought that other people enjoy the good things of life which the envier can't hope to attain through hard work and emulation." — Martha Nussbaum
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#58
"Everybody knows someone like that: wonderful, attractive people full of passion and ideals. You envy them, but you know there's a dark side, which is brutal and cruel and violent. That dark side informs what's wonderful about them, and the passion and rage inform the darkness; they're inseparable." — David Thewlis
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#59
"Why would you envy a man who doesn't know the names of all the planets, is a 'high functioning' sociopath and has no friends? Because Sherlock Holmes thinks in all the ways we wish we could." — Kyle Hill
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#60
"It is not greed that drives the world, but envy." — Warren Buffett
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