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.
#61
"Envy is like a fly that passes all the body’s sounder parts, and dwells upon the sores." — Arthur Chapman
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#62
"Envy is ever joined with the comparing of a man’s self; and where there is no comparison, no envy." — Francis Bacon
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#63
"It is in the character of very few men to honor without envy a friend who has prospered." — Aeschylus
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#64
"Envy is the central fact of American life." — Gore Vidal
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#65
"Envy and jealousy are the private parts of the human soul. Perhaps the comparison can be extended." — Friedrich Nietzsche
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#66
"Envy is a littleness of soul, which cannot see beyond a certain point, and if it does not occupy the whole space, feels itself excluded." — William Hazlitt
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#67
"The envious person grows lean with the fatness of their neighbor." — Socrates
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#68
"There is a natural limit to the success we wish our friends, even when we have spurred them on their way." — Agnes Repplier
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#69
"Blessed is he who has learned to admire but not envy, to follow but not imitate, to praise but not flatter, and to lead but not manipulate." — William Arthur Ward
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#70
"The company of certain people may excite our generosity and sensitivity, while that of others awakens our competitiveness and envy." — Alain de Botton
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#71
"Envy lurks at the bottom of the human heart like a viper in its hole." — Honoré de Balzac
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#72
"For most of us, envy is the basis of our actions; remove envy and we feel we are lost. All our effort is towards success, and in that there is envy; behind that envy there is fear." — Jiddu Krishnamurti
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#73
"When you make your mark in the world, watch out for the envious with erasers." — Evan Esar
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#74
"As iron is eaten away by rust, so the envious are consumed by their own passion." — Antisthenes
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#75
"Class envy is dangerous." — Jack Abramoff
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#76
"Envy has the ugliness of a trapped rat that has gnawed its own foot in its effort to escape." — Angus Wilson
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#77
"Envy is ignorance, imitation is suicide." — Ralph Waldo Emerson
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#78
"Envy is thin because it bites but never eats." — Spanish Proverb
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#79
"I have no respect for the passion of equality, which seems to me merely idealizing envy – I don’t disparage envy, but I don’t accept it as legitimately my master." — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
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#80
"The gifts given to us by God must not be relinquished to those who speak ill of them and who are moved by envy or ignorance." — Filippo Brunelleschi
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