* A man that hath no virtue in himself, ever envieth virtue in others. For men's minds, will either feed upon their own good, or upon others' evil; and who wanteth the one, will prey upon the other; and whoso is out of hope, to attain to another's virtue, will seek to come at even hand, by depressing another's fortune.
o Francis Bacon, Essays, "Of Envy" (1625)

* ENVY, n. Emulation adapted to the meanest capacity.
o Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary (1911)

* Every other sin hath some pleasure annexed to it, or will admit of an excuse; envy alone wants both. Other sins last but for awhile; the gut may be satisfied, anger remits, hatred hath an end, envy never ceaseth.
o Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, Part I, Section 2, member 3, subsection 7, Envy, Malice, Hatred, Causes (1621)

* This only grant me, that my means may lie
Too low for envy, for contempt too high.
o Abraham Cowley (1618-1667), of Myself

* 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.
o Democritus, Tr. Kathleen Freeman, Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers: A Complete Translation of the Fragments in Diels, Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, Harvard University Press, 1948; republished by Forgotten Books, 2008, ISBN 1606802569 (full text online at GoogleBooks)

* Envy among other ingredients has a mixture of the love of justice in it. We are more angry at undeserved than at deserved good-fortune.
o William Hazlitt, Characteristics, in the manner of Rochefoucauld's Maxims, No. 19 (1823)