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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)

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More quotes by Ivan Illich

A cosmic struggle among ever more complex forms of life has become the anthropic foundational myth of the scientific age.

Jesus was an anarchist savior. That's what the Gospels tell us.

Churches also have their problems with a Jesus whose only economics are jokes.

Universal education through schooling is not feasible. It would be no more feasible if it were attempted by means of alternative institutions built on the style of present schools.

Deschooling Society (1971)

A transformation of the environment from a commons to a productive resource constitutes the most fundamental form of environmental degradation.

Silence is a Commons (1982)

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

Leo Tolstoy

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)

Nothing can allay the rage of biting envy.

Claudian

Attribution

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