Jealousy is an emotion that almost everyone has experienced, and it can be a difficult feeling to process. Whether we’re dealing with envy of someone else’s success or fear of our own relationship ending, jealousy can throw us into a spiral of negative emotions.

To help us make sense of this complex feeling, we’ve compiled a list of quotes about jealousy that explore the power of this emotion. Here, you’ll find words from authors, celebrities, and everyday people who’ve all been touched by the sometimes tumultuous nature of jealousy. Read on for some insight into how jealous feelings can influence our lives.

  1. โ€œLife is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don’t bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake Up and Live!โ€ โ€“ Bob Marley
  2. โ€œThe envious die not once, but as oft as the envied win applause.โ€ โ€“ Baltasar Graciรกn
  3. โ€œMoral indignation is jealousy with a halo.โ€ โ€• H.G. Wells
  4. โ€œThe jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves.โ€ โ€• William Penn
  5. โ€œA sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.โ€ โ€“ Proverbs 14:30
  6. โ€œRust consumes iron and envy consumes itself.โ€ โ€“ Danish Proverb
  7. โ€œAnger, resentment and jealousy doesn’t change the heart of others– it only changes yours.โ€ โ€• Shannon Alder
  8. โ€œ Don’t waste time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind.โ€ โ€• Mary Schmich
  9. โ€œOur envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those we envy.โ€ โ€“ Franรงois de la Rochefoucauld
  10. โ€œEnvy is a littleness of soul, which cannot see beyond a certain point, and if it does not occupy the whole space, feels itself excluded.โ€ โ€“ William Hazlitt
  11. โ€œIsn’t it kind of silly to think that tearing someone else down builds you up?โ€ โ€• Sean Covey
  12. โ€œYou can be the moon and still be jealous of the stars.โ€ โ€• Gary Allan
  13. โ€œTake heed you harbor not that vice called Envy, lest anotherโ€™s happiness be your torment, and Godโ€™s blessing become your curse.โ€ โ€“ Wellins Calcott
  14. โ€œDo not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.โ€ โ€“ Buddha
  15. โ€œIt is never wise to seek or wish for anotherโ€™s misfortune. If malice or envy were tangible and had a shape, it would be the shape of a boomerang.โ€ โ€“ Charley Reese
  16. โ€œYou can only be jealous of someone who has something you think you ought to have yourself.โ€ โ€• Margaret Atwood
  17. โ€œOften those that criticise others reveal what he himself lacks.โ€ โ€• Shannon L. Alder
  18. โ€œI get jealous because I am afraid that someone is going to make you happier than I do.” โ€“ Frank Ocean
  19. โ€œJealousy is the jaundice of the soul.โ€ โ€“ John Dryden
  20. โ€œEnvy is more irreconcilable than hatred.โ€ โ€“ Franรงois de la Rochefoucauld
  21. โ€œEnvy is a symptom of lack of appreciation of our own uniqueness and self-worth. Each of us has something to give that no one else has.โ€ โ€“ Unknown
  22. โ€œIt is jealousy that leads people to tarnish you.โ€ โ€“ Priyadarshan
  23. โ€œSure, I can get a little bit jealous. The good part about jealousy is that it comes from passion. It’s also the dangerous part and it’s an ugly emotion that hurts.โ€ โ€“ Matthew McConaughey
  24. โ€œKeep yourselves far from envy; it eateth up and taketh away good actions, like as fire eateth up and burneth wood.โ€ โ€“ Muhammad
  25. โ€œEnvy is ever joined with the comparing of a manโ€™s self; and where there is no comparison, no envy.โ€ โ€“ Francis Bacon
  26. โ€œEnvy is like a fly that passes all the bodyโ€™s sounder parts, and dwells upon the sores.โ€ โ€“ Arthur Chapman
  27. โ€œEven if people pretend that they’re OK with it, jealousy can eat people alive.โ€ โ€“ Phoebe Fox
  28. โ€œJealousyโ€”Tormenting yourself, for fear you should be tormented by another.โ€ โ€“ Paul Chatfield
  29. โ€œNever waste jealousy on a real man: it is the imaginary man that supplants us all in the long run.โ€ โ€“ George Bernard Shaw
  30. โ€œIn jealousy there is more self-love than love.โ€ โ€“ Franรงois de la Rochefoucauld
  31. โ€œEnvy is the art of counting the other fellow’s blessings instead of your own.โ€ โ€“ Harold Coffin
  32. โ€œJealousy is the tribute mediocrity pays to genius.โ€ โ€“ Fulton J. Sheen
  33. โ€œItโ€™s a completely useless emotion โ€“ jealousy. I donโ€™t go there.โ€ โ€“ Joy Behar
  34. โ€œJealousy eats away at relationships like acid. Itโ€™s corrosive and destructive. It destroys trust and intimacy.โ€ โ€“ Dr. Gary Chapman
  35. โ€œHe that is not jealous is not in love.โ€ โ€“ Augustine
  36. โ€œThe jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves.โ€ โ€“ William Penn
  37. โ€œJealousy is, I think, the worst of all faults because it makes a victim of both parties.โ€ โ€“ Gene Tierney
  38. โ€œJealousy is an ugly emotion, because it is based on fear. Fear is ugly, because it is based in ignorance. Ignorance is ugly, because it prevents people from seeing things clearly.โ€ โ€“ Deepak Chopra
  39. โ€œJealousy is the worst trait in any person.โ€ โ€“ Adam DeVine
  40. โ€œJealousy is no more than feeling alone against smiling enemies.โ€ โ€“ Elizabeth Bowen
  41. โ€œJealousy is simply and clearly the fear that you do not have value. Jealousy scans for evidence to prove the point โ€“ that others will be preferred and rewarded more than you. There is only one alternative โ€“ self-value. If you cannot love yourself, you will not believe that you are loved. You will always think itโ€™s a mistake or luck.โ€ โ€“ Jennifer James
  42. โ€œThe knives of jealousy are honed on details.โ€ โ€“ Ruth Rendell
  43. โ€œJealousy is the dragon in paradise; the hell of heaven; and the most bitter of the emotions because it is associated with the sweetest.โ€ โ€“ R. Orage
  44. โ€œJealousy lives upon doubts. It becomes madness or ceases entirely as soon as we pass from doubt to certainty.โ€ โ€“ Franรงois de la Rochefoucauld
  45. โ€œJealousy is unavoidable – it’s part of the price we pay for intimacy.โ€ โ€“ Rachel Simmons
  46. โ€œJealousy in romance is like salt in food. A little can enhance the savor, but too much can spoil the pleasure and, under certain circumstances, can be life-threatening.โ€- Maya Angelou
  47. โ€œHumans are suspicious and jealous creatures. When they see something perfect, they want to find a flaw.โ€ โ€“ Gosho Aoyama
  48. To jealousy, nothing is more frightful than laughter.โ€ โ€“ Francoise Sagan
  49. โ€œDonโ€™t let anyone steal your joy. Donโ€™t let anything destroy your peace of mind. Be careful of your thoughts. Your thoughts create your feelings. Your feelings create your actions. Your actions change your destiny.โ€ โ€“ Buddha
  50. โ€œJealousy is the great exaggerator.โ€- Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller
  51. โ€œJealousy is an awkward homage which inferiority renders to merit.โ€- de Puixieux
  52. โ€œJealousy injures us with the dagger of self-doubt.โ€ โ€“ Terri Guillemets
  53. โ€œJealousy is the fear or apprehension of superiority: envy our uneasiness under it.โ€ โ€“ William Shenstone
  54. โ€œJealousy is bred in doubts. When those doubts change into certainties, then the passion either ceases or turns absolute madness.โ€ โ€“ Francois de La Rochefoucauld
  55. โ€œJealousy is always born with love, but does not always die with it.โ€ โ€“ Franรงois de la Rochefoucauld, Maxims
  56. โ€œEnvy is a symptom of lack of appreciation of our own uniqueness and self worth. Each of us has something to give that no one else has.โ€ โ€“ Elizabeth Oโ€™Connor
  57. โ€œJealousy would be far less torturous if we understood that love is a passion entirely unrelated to our merits.โ€ โ€“ Paul Eldridge
  58. โ€œJealousy is never satisfied with anything short of an omniscience that would detect the subtlest fold of the heart.โ€ โ€“ George Eliot
  59. โ€œJealousy lives upon doubts. It becomes madness or ceases entirely as soon as we pass from doubt to certainty.โ€ โ€“Francois de la Rochefoucauld
  60. โ€œInsecure people only eclipse your sun because theyโ€™re jealous of your daylight and tired of their dark, starless nights.โ€ โ€• Shannon L. Alder
  61. โ€œJealousy is that pain which a man feels from the apprehension that he is not equally beloved by the person whom he entirely loves.โ€ โ€“ Joseph Addison
  62. โ€œJealousies are like ghosts: they come unbidden into the heart, and there haunt us until we either drive them away or kill ourselves trying to chase them off.โ€ โ€“ Gail Sheehy
  63. โ€œA competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity.โ€ โ€“ Robert A. Heinlein
  64. โ€œNever hate jealous people. They are jealous because they think you are better than them.โ€ โ€” Paulo Coelho.
  65. โ€œLove is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own… Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often mistakes one for the other, or assumes that the greater the love, the greater the jealousy.โ€ โ€” Robert A. Heinlein
  66. โ€œWelcome to the wonderful world of jealousy, he thought. For the price of admission, you get a splitting headache, a nearly irresistable urge to commit murder, and an inferiority complex. Yippee.โ€ โ€• J.R. Ward
  67. โ€œO! Beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.โ€ โ€“ William Shakespeare
  68. โ€œJealousy, that dragon which slays love under the pretence of keeping it alive.โ€ โ€“ Havelock Ellis
  69. โ€œTrifles light as air, are to the jealous confirmations strong as proofs of holy writ.โ€ โ€“ William Shakespeare, Othello
  70. โ€œThere will always be someone willing to hurt you, put you down, gossip about you, belittle your accomplishments and judge your soul. It is a fact that we all must face. However, if you realize that God is a best friend that stands beside you when others cast stones you will never be afraid, never feel worthless and never feel alone.โ€ โ€• Shannon Alder
  71. โ€œGossip is just a tool to distract people who have nothing better to do from feeling jealous of those few of us still remaining with noble hearts.โ€ โ€• Anna Godbersen
  72. โ€œSurrounded by the flames of jealousy, the jealous one winds up, like the scorpion, turning the poisoned sting against himself.โ€ โ€“ Friedrich Nietzsche
  73. โ€œA lot of people get so hung up on what they can’t have that they don’t think for a second about whether they really want it.โ€ โ€• Lionel Shriver
  74. โ€œWhoever envies another confesses his superiority.โ€ โ€“ Samuel Johnson
  75. โ€œNever hate jealous people. They are jealous because they think you are better than them.โ€ โ€” Paulo Coelho
  76. โ€œEnvy is the most stupid of vices, for there is no single advantage to be gained from it.โ€ โ€“ Honore de Balzac
  77. โ€œJealousy is both reasonable and belongs to reasonable men, while envy is base and belongs to the base, for the one makes himself get good things by jealousy, while the other does not allow his neighbour to have them through envy.โ€ โ€“ Aristotle
  78. โ€œBut jealous souls will not be answered so. They are not ever jealous for the cause, but jealous for theyโ€™re jealous. It is a monster begot upon itself, born on itself.โ€ โ€” William Shakespeare
  79. โ€œCheating is directly linked to lack of intelligence, insecurity, low self-esteem, and an overall sense of unhappiness with oneโ€™s own life!โ€
  80. โ€œI refused to believe that love could take any other form than mine: I measured love by the extent of my jealousy, and by that standard, of course, she could not love me at all.โ€ โ€“ Graham Greene
  81. โ€œEnvy lurks at the bottom of the human heart like a viper in its hole.โ€ โ€“ Honorรฉ de Balzac
  82. โ€œEnvy is ignorance.โ€ โ€“ Ralph Waldo Emerson
  83. โ€œFamous Harry Potter,” said Malfoy. “Can’t even go to a bookshop without making the front page.โ€ โ€• J.K. Rowling
  84. โ€œThe worst part of success is trying to find someone who is happy for you.โ€ โ€“ Bette Midler
  85. โ€œThe jealousy that arises from anotherโ€™s achievement is overcome by developing an awareness of and admiration for oneโ€™s own and otherโ€™s achievement.โ€ โ€• Dalai Lama
  86. โ€œMore men die of jealousy than of cancer.โ€ -Joseph P. Kennedy
  87. โ€œJealousy is a disease. Get well soon.โ€ โ€” Paris Hilton
  88. โ€œPity is for the living, envy is for the dead.โ€ โ€“ Mark Twain
  89. โ€œThe only thing more frustrating than slanderers is those foolish enough to listen to them.โ€ โ€• Criss Jami
  90. โ€œJealousy is a disease; love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often mistakes one for the other or assumes that the greater the love, the greater the jealousy.โ€โ€“ Robert Heinlein
  91. โ€œBeing jealous is normal, but when you have too much jealousy, then there must be something wrong. Jealousy is not good for your body and mind.โ€
  92. โ€œI think it’s important to get your surroundings as well as yourself into a positive state – meaning surround yourself with positive people, not the kind who are negative and jealous of everything you do.โ€โ€“ Heidi Klum
  93. โ€œOne of the most powerful lessons in life is to recognize that no one can give you power, and many people donโ€™t want you to have it. You have to find the courage to seize it, own it and hold on!โ€ โ€• Shannon L. Alder
  94. โ€œThere is no greater glory than love, nor any greater punishment than jealousy.โ€ โ€“Lope de Vega
  95. โ€œFor Godโ€™s sake, letโ€™s take the word โ€˜possessโ€™ and put brick around its neck and drown it. We canโ€™t possess one another. We can only give and hazard all we have.โ€ โ€“ Dorothy L. Sayers
  96. โ€œWomen detest a jealous man whom they do not love, but it angers them when a man they do love is not jealous.โ€ โ€” Lโ€™Enclos
  97. โ€œAside from the real threats that are often present in our lives, there are other triggers of jealousy that are rooted in our own problems.โ€ โ€” Ryan Help
  98. โ€œJealousy is just lack of self-confidence.โ€
  99. โ€œA negative judgment gives you more satisfaction than praise, provided it smacks of jealousy.โ€ -Jean Baudrillard
  100. โ€œJealousy is a strong emotion that can break any strong relationship.โ€
  101. โ€œThe jealous bring down the curse they fear upon their own heads.โ€ โ€“ Dorothy Dix
  102. โ€œPure love allows no room for jealousy.โ€- James Lendall Basford (
  103. โ€œIf youโ€™re suffering from problems of self-esteem or from constant bouts of jealousy, it didnโ€™t happen overnight.โ€ โ€” Bailey Jackson
  104. โ€œShe had loved him for such a long time, she thought. How was it that she did now know him at all?โ€ โ€• Cassandra Clare

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