“It is better to be envied than pitied.”
Book 3, Ch. 52
The Histories
Variant: How much better a thing it is to be envied than to be pitied.
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Herodotus 42
ancient Greek historian, often considered as the first hist… -484–-425 BCRelated quotes
“If a poor person envies a rich person, he is no better than the rich person.”
Source: Path of Life (1909), p. 89
“If our inward griefs were seen written on our brow, how many would be pitied who are now envied!”
Se a ciascun l'interno affanno
Si leggesse in fronte scritto,
Quanti mai, che invidia fanno,
Ci farebbero pietà!
Part I.
Giuseppe Riconosciuto (1733)
Original text (incomplete): L'égalité est une expression d'envie. Elle signifie, dans le cœur de tout républicain : personne ne sera dans une meilleure situation que moi.[...]
Conversation with Nassau William Senior, 22 May 1850 Nassau, p. 94 http://books.google.com/books?id=KuzvHHBxuqgC&pg=PA94&vq=%22an+expression+of+envy%22&dq=tocqueville+william+nassau&lr=&source=gbs_search_s&cad=0
1850s and later
Variant: Equality is a slogan based on envy. It signifies in the heart of every republican: "Nobody is going to occupy a place higher than I."
As quoted by David Milner, "Kenpachiro Satsuma Interview I" http://www.davmil.org/www.kaijuconversations.com/satsum.htm, Kaiju Conversations (December 1993)
A History of the Lyre
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)
“The player envies only the player, the poet envies only the poet.”
"On Envy"
The Plain Speaker (1826)
“I envy what I fear and hate what I envy.”
Source: The Poison Eaters and Other Stories