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Jealousy and Envy quotes

Explore Jealousy and Envy quotations through trust and reciprocity, communication and conflict, care expressed through action. Compare how different writers frame the idea across distinct works and periods.

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Four ways into this jealousy and envy collection

Shortest in this collection“Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,” — Alexander PopeLongest in this collection“O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat…” — William Shakespeare
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Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
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“Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,”

Alexander Pope · Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot · 1735
Meaning & context

The line describes a subtle form of hostility in which apparent approval is calibrated to diminish rather than support its target.

Source details

An Epistle from Mr. Pope to Dr. Arbuthnot (1735 first-edition scan), printed page 11 / scan leaf 17, lines 199–212. “Damn with faint praise” belongs to Pope’s satirical portrait of “Atticus,” conventionally associated with Joseph Addison. It is polemical literary characterization inside Pope’s self-defence, not neutral biography or a general diagnosis of insincere praise.

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Source identified2
O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.
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“O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.”

William Shakespeare · Othello · c. 1603
Voice: Fictional character · Iago
Meaning & context

Jealousy is described as self-consuming because it feeds on suspicion while tormenting the person who carries it.

Source details

Othello, Act III, Scene III, reviewed against the scan-backed First Folio facsimile. Iago's green-eyed-monster image is manipulative fictional dialogue used while cultivating Othello's jealousy; it is not Shakespeare's direct psychological diagnosis or clinical evidence.

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Topic guide

A quick guide to jealousy and envy

Relationship quotations become more useful when they distinguish affection from trust, closeness from dependence, and loyalty from the absence of boundaries.

Reading lenses

Trust and reciprocityCommunication and conflictCare expressed through actionBoundaries, loyalty, and repair

How to use this page

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Authors and sources

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Voices in this collection

Alexander Pope1 quotation in this topic
William Shakespeare1 quotation in this topic

Named sources

Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot1735 · 1 quotation
Othelloc. 1603 · 1 quotation