Envy Quote by Max Scheler
““Existential envy which is directed against the other person’s very nature, is the strongest source of ressentiment. It is as if it whispers continually: “I can forgive everything, but not that you are— that you are what you are—that I am not what you are—indeed that I am not you.” This form of envy strips the opponent of his very existence, for this existence as such is felt to be a “pressure,” a “reproach,” and an unbearable humiliation. In the lives of great men there are always critical periods of instability, in which they alternately envy and try to love those whose merits they cannot but esteem. Only gradually, one of these attitudes will predominate. Here lies the meaning of Goethe’s reflection that “against another’s great merits, there is no remedy but love.” ― Max Scheler””
About This Quote
Source Book: Philosophical Essays on Envy by Max Scheler, 1914
Envy that attacks another’s very nature creates deep resentment, but love is the only remedy to such destructive feelings.
In simple terms: Envy destroys self; love heals.
Key Takeaway
Cultivate love to counter envy.
Themes
envy
resentment
identity
humiliation
love
Mood
thoughtful
serious
Type
philosophical
inspirational
When to use this quote
- personal relationships
- workplace competition
- self‑reflection
- conflict resolution
Key Concepts
existential philosophy
psychology
ethics
Questions to Reflect On
- How can you transform envy into admiration?
- What steps foster genuine love for others’ merits?
A Different Perspective
Love may be difficult to practice toward rivals.
![“As Nietzsche noted in Daybreak: When some men fail to accomplish what they desire to do they exclaim angrily, “May the whole world perish!” This repulsive emotion is the pinnacle of envy, whose implication is “If I cannot have something, no one can have anything, no one is to be anything!”[312]” quote by Stephen R.C. Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/6cf/stephen-r-c-hicks-12692_good-morning_as-nietzsche-noted-in-daybreak-when-some_2333556.jpg)
![“The only cure [for envy] in the case of ordinary men and women is happiness, and the difficulty is that envy is itself a terrible obstacle to happiness” quote by Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/bb1/bertrand-russell-69_happiness_the-only-cure-for-envy-in-the-case-of-or_2267693.jpg)
![“Love loves and in loving always looks beyond what it has in hand and possesses. The driving impulse [*Triebimpuls*] which arouses may tire out; love itself does not tire. This *sursum corda* which is the essence of love may take on fundamentally different forms at different elevations in the…” quote by Max Scheler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/cc4/max-scheler-21013_axiology_love-loves-and-in-loving-always-looks-be_248149.jpg)
![“Only after the concept of knowledge has been based on an ontological relation [*Seinsverhältnis*] can we work out the particular kind of being from which the principle of immanence-to-consciousness (the starting point of Idealism and Critical Realism) mistakenly proceeds as though from a primary…” quote by Max Scheler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/65c/max-scheler-21013_epistemology_only-after-the-concept-of-knowledge-has_492525.jpg)
![“All that is worthy of love [*die Liebenswürdigkeiten*], from the viewpoint of God's comprehensive love, might have been stamped and created by this act of love; man's love does not so stamp or create its objects. Man's love is restricted to recognizing the objective demand these objects make and…” quote by Max Scheler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ece/max-scheler-21013_ability-to-love_all-that-is-worthy-of-love-die-liebensw_1325365.jpg)
