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Fools may our scorn, not envy, raise.
For envy is a kind of praise.

— John Gay Fables (1727)

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Jealousy

More quotes by John Gay

Life is a jest; and all things show it. I thought so once; and now I know it.

While there is life there's hope, he cried.

Fables (1727)

I must have women—there is nothing unbends the mind like them.

The Beggar's Opera (1728)

The fly that sips treacle is lost in the sweets.

The Beggar's Opera (1728)

Brother, brother! we are both in the wrong.

The Beggar's Opera (1728)

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If a poor person envies a rich person, he is no better than the rich person.

Leo Tolstoy

In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy.

Ivan Illich Tools for Conviviality (1973)

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 Freeman (1948)

It is in the character of very few men to honor without envy a friend who has prospered.

Aeschylus Oresteia (-458)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: John Gay (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.