--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Greatness is always envied - it is only…" description: "\"Greatness is always envied - it is only mediocrity that can boast of a host of friends.\" — Marie Corelli" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/331/marie-corelli-7507_boast_greatness-is-always-envied-it-is-only-me_1779373.jpg" --- # Greatness is always envied - it is only mediocrity that… ![“Greatness is always envied - it is only mediocrity that can boast of a host of friends.” quote by Marie Corelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/331/marie-corelli-7507_boast_greatness-is-always-envied-it-is-only-me_1779373.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/331/marie-corelli-7507_boast_greatness-is-always-envied-it-is-only-me_1779373.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/331/marie-corelli-7507_boast_greatness-is-always-envied-it-is-only-me_1779373.jpg) > “Greatness is always envied - it is only mediocrity that can boast of a host of friends.” [Marie Corelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-corelli/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Great people are envied; only mediocre people claim many friends. **In simple terms:** Envy targets greatness; mediocrity seeks many friends. Key Takeaway Value substance over popularity. Themes envy friendship greatness Mood thoughtful analytical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - workplace - social circles - online communities Key Concepts social comparison self-worth authentic relationships Questions to Reflect On - What defines a true friend? - Is envy always negative? A Different Perspective Friends may not reflect true character. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Boast](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boast/) [Envy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/envy/) [Friendship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friendship/) [Greatness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatness/) [Mediocrity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mediocrity/) ## Related quotes > [England a fortune-telling host, As num'rous as the stars, could boast; Matrons, who toss the cup, and see The grounds of Fate in grounds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-churchill/england-a-fortune-telling-host-as-num-rous-as-the-stars-could-boast/) [Charles Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-churchill/) > [Envy ought to have no place allowed it in the hearts of people; for the goods of this present world are so vile and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/envy-ought-to-have-no-place-allowed-it-in-the-hearts-of-people-for/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [I've always slightly envied other actors I know who have different reputations. I think, 'God, you don't get people coming up to you, going,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-freeman/i-ve-always-slightly-envied-other-actors-i-know-who-have-different/) [Martin Freeman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-freeman/) > [People knew less of each other, perhaps, but they felt more free of each other, and so were more individual. The entire world was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/people-knew-less-of-each-other-perhaps-but-they-felt-more-free-of/) [John Fowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/) > [I've always envied girls having Ugg boots, so when I found some for men, I had to have them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marc-warren/i-ve-always-envied-girls-having-ugg-boots-so-when-i-found-some-for/) [Marc Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marc-warren/) > [The famous are balloons far up in the sky, to be envied for their quiet freedom or shot down as enemies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-miller/the-famous-are-balloons-far-up-in-the-sky-to-be-envied-for-their/) [Arthur Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-miller/) > [Envy assails the noblest: the winds howl around the highest peaks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ovid/envy-assails-the-noblest-the-winds-howl-around-the-highest-peaks/) [Ovid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ovid/) > [Since biblical times, and probably before, the wealthy have been envied and condemned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-black/since-biblical-times-and-probably-before-the-wealthy-have-been-envied/) [Conrad Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-black/) > [The pastoral labours of the archbishop of Constantinople provoked and gradually united against him two sorts of enemies; the aspiring clergy, who envied his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/the-pastoral-labours-of-the-archbishop-of-constantinople-provoked-and/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [He will be loved when dead, who was envied when he was living.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/he-will-be-loved-when-dead-who-was-envied-when-he-was-living/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [Each of them berated you, because they feared and envied you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/each-of-them-berated-you-because-they-feared-and-envied-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [There was a rivalry - and some pie-throwing. But that was probably because Gawker and Radar had more in common than they wanted to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-denton/there-was-a-rivalry-and-some-pie-throwing-but-that-was-probably/) [Nick Denton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-denton/) > [If our inward griefs were written on our brows, how many who are envied now would be pitied. It would seem that they had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pietro-metastasio/if-our-inward-griefs-were-written-on-our-brows-how-many-who-are/) [Pietro Metastasio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pietro-metastasio/) > [Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future, predominate over the present, advances us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/whatever-withdraws-us-from-the-power-of-our-senses-whatever-makes-the/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [There is no sweeter sound than the crumbling of one's fellow man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/groucho-marx/there-is-no-sweeter-sound-than-the-crumbling-of-one-s-fellow-man/) [Groucho Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/groucho-marx/) ## More by Marie Corelli > [Love clamors far more incessantly and passionately at a closed gate than an open one!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-corelli/love-clamors-far-more-incessantly-and-passionately-at-a-closed-gate/) [Marie Corelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-corelli/) > [“There, the sublime, unreachable mysteries of the Universe are haggled over by poor finite minds who cannot call their lives their own. There, nation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-corelli/there-the-sublime-unreachable-mysteries-of-the-universe-are-haggled/) [Marie Corelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-corelli/) > [I must not say what I truly think, or you will tell me I flatter you-but I can only speak what I feel-and very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-corelli/i-must-not-say-what-i-truly-think-or-you-will-tell-me-i-flatter-you/) [Marie Corelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-corelli/) > [No one is contented in this world, I believe. There is always something left to desire, and the last thing longed for always seems…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-corelli/no-one-is-contented-in-this-world-i-believe-there-is-always-something/) [Marie Corelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-corelli/) > [“What do I mean, you ask, by accepting everything as it comes, and trying to find out the reason of its coming? Why, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-corelli/what-do-i-mean-you-ask-by-accepting-everything-as-it-comes-and-trying/) [Marie Corelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-corelli/) > [You should always be well and bright, for so you do your best work; and you have so much beautiful work to do. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-corelli/you-should-always-be-well-and-bright-for-so-you-do-your-best-work-and/) [Marie Corelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-corelli/) > [Education! Is it education to teach the young that their chances of happiness depend on being richer than their neighbors? Yet that is what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-corelli/education-is-it-education-to-teach-the-young-that-their-chances-of/) [Marie Corelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-corelli/) > [Imagination is the supreme endowment of the poet and romanticist. It is a kind of second sight, which conveys the owner of it to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-corelli/imagination-is-the-supreme-endowment-of-the-poet-and-romanticist-it/) [Marie Corelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-corelli/) > [Fancy your having no sunshine in London yesterday! Here it was glorious, like full summer, and I sat up with the window wide open,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-corelli/fancy-your-having-no-sunshine-in-london-yesterday-here-it-was/) [Marie Corelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-corelli/) > [There is nothing so depressing as a constant contemplation of one's self, and the greatest moral cowardice in the world's opinion comes from consulting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-corelli/there-is-nothing-so-depressing-as-a-constant-contemplation-of-one-s/) [Marie Corelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-corelli/) > [work is happiness. No one can take my work from me and therefore no one can take my happiness from me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-corelli/work-is-happiness-no-one-can-take-my-work-from-me-and-therefore-no/) [Marie Corelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-corelli/) > [“The finest actor is he who play the comedy of life perfectly, as i aspire to do. To walk well, talk well, weep well,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-corelli/the-finest-actor-is-he-who-play-the-comedy-of-life-perfectly-as-i/) [Marie Corelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-corelli/) > [Nothing is so deceptive as human reasoning, - nothing so slippery and reversible as what we have decided to call 'logic.' The truest compass…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-corelli/nothing-is-so-deceptive-as-human-reasoning-nothing-so-slippery-and/) [Marie Corelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-corelli/) > [“So you are tired of your life, young man! All the more reason have you to live. Anyone can die. A murderer has moral…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-corelli/so-you-are-tired-of-your-life-young-man-all-the-more-reason-have-you/) [Marie Corelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-corelli/) > [There is no Death,/What seems so is transition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-corelli/there-is-no-death-what-seems-so-is-transition/) [Marie Corelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-corelli/) [Explore all 90 Marie Corelli quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-corelli/) ## More Boast quotes > [It would be a piece of ingenuousness to accuse the man of today of his lack of moral code. The accusation would leave him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jose-ortega-y-gasset/it-would-be-a-piece-of-ingenuousness-to-accuse-the-man-of-today-of/) [Jose Ortega y Gasset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jose-ortega-y-gasset/) > [Win without boasting. Lose without excuse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-payson-terhune/win-without-boasting-lose-without-excuse/) [Albert Payson Terhune](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-payson-terhune/) > [Further conceive, I beg, that a stone, while continuing in motion, should be capable of thinking and knowing, that it is endeavoring, as far…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/further-conceive-i-beg-that-a-stone-while-continuing-in-motion-should/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Boasting and bravado may exist in the breast even of the coward, if he is successful through a mere lucky hit; but a just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thucydides/boasting-and-bravado-may-exist-in-the-breast-even-of-the-coward-if-he/) [Thucydides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thucydides/) > [“In general, poor is polite and rich is rude.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amit-kalantri/in-general-poor-is-polite-and-rich-is-rude/) [Amit Kalantri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amit-kalantri/) > [“in other words, his story was part boast, part confession.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-mezrich/in-other-words-his-story-was-part-boast-part-confession/) [Ben Mezrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-mezrich/) > [We are not saints, but we have kept our appointment. How many people can boast as much?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/we-are-not-saints-but-we-have-kept-our-appointment-how-many-people/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [Boast is always a cry of despair, except in the young it is a cry of hope.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-berenson/boast-is-always-a-cry-of-despair-except-in-the-young-it-is-a-cry-of/) [Bernard Berenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-berenson/) > [“A classic is read not to enjoy but only to be boast about it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aman-jassal/a-classic-is-read-not-to-enjoy-but-only-to-be-boast-about-it/) [Aman Jassal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aman-jassal/) > [Buonaparte has often made his boast that our fleet would be worn out by keeping the sea and that his was kept in order…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horatio-nelson/buonaparte-has-often-made-his-boast-that-our-fleet-would-be-worn-out/) [Horatio Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horatio-nelson/) > [Wisdom can boast no higher attainment than happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-radcliffe/wisdom-can-boast-no-higher-attainment-than-happiness/) [Ann Radcliffe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-radcliffe/) > [But thou art fair, and at thy birth, dear boy, Nature and Fortune join'd to make thee great: Of Nature's gifts thou mayst with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/but-thou-art-fair-and-at-thy-birth-dear-boy-nature-and-fortune-join-d/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [Science appears but what in truth she is, Not as our glory and our absolute boast, But as a succedaneum, and a prop To…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-wordsworth/science-appears-but-what-in-truth-she-is-not-as-our-glory-and-our/) [William Wordsworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-wordsworth/) > [It has, therefore, been a favorite boast of the people of Wales and Cornwall, that the original British stock flourishes in its unmixed purity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-bulfinch/it-has-therefore-been-a-favorite-boast-of-the-people-of-wales-and/) [Thomas Bulfinch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-bulfinch/) > [Boasting is only a masked shame; it does not truly believe in itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabindranath-tagore/boasting-is-only-a-masked-shame-it-does-not-truly-believe-in-itself/) [Rabindranath Tagore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabindranath-tagore/) [Browse all 567 Boast quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boast/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Greatness is always envied - it is only mediocrity that can boast of a host of friends.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Marie Corelli" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-corelli/greatness-is-always-envied-it-is-only-mediocrity-that-can-boast-of-a/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Boast" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-corelli/greatness-is-always-envied-it-is-only-mediocrity-that-can-boast-of-a/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/331/marie-corelli-7507_boast_greatness-is-always-envied-it-is-only-me_1779373.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/331/marie-corelli-7507_boast_greatness-is-always-envied-it-is-only-me_1779373.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/331/marie-corelli-7507_boast_greatness-is-always-envied-it-is-only-me_1779373.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Greatness is always envied - it is only mediocrity that can boast of a host of friends.” — Marie Corelli", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Marie Corelli", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-corelli/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Greatness is always envied - it...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-corelli/greatness-is-always-envied-it-is-only-mediocrity-that-can-boast-of-a/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-corelli/greatness-is-always-envied-it-is-only-mediocrity-that-can-boast-of-a/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```