The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.
TacitusRead
When men are full of envy they disparage everything, whether it be good or bad.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Envy breeds negativity and leads people to criticize everything, regardless of its worth.
This quote by Tacitus highlights how envy can distort perceptions and lead individuals to speak ill of others or dismiss their accomplishments. Envy not only clouds one's judgment but also fosters a toxic environment where even positivity is met with skepticism, showing that a heart filled with envy is incapable of recognizing value in what others achieve.
Themes
EnvyNegativityCriticismPerceptionJudgment
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a discussion about the destructive nature of envy in workplace dynamics.
More from Tacitus
All quotes βIn private enterprises men may advance or recede, whereas they who aim at empire have no alternative between the highest success and utter downfall.
TacitusRead
Great empires are not maintained by timidity.
TacitusRead
Things are not to be judged good or bad merely because the public think so.
TacitusRead
So obscure are the greatest events, as some take for granted any hearsay, whatever its source, others turn truth into falsehood, and both errors find encouragement with posterity.
TacitusRead
The brave and bold persist even against fortune; the timid and cowardly rush to despair though fear alone.
TacitusRead
Similar quotes
Why are we designed to see the world as supremely beautiful just as we're about to be snuffed? Do rabbits feel the same as the fox teeth bite down on their necks? Is it mercy?
Margaret AtwoodRead
The Church must breathe with her two lungs!
Pope John Paul IiRead
Once I got into space, I was feeling very comfortable in the universe. I felt like I had a right to be anywhere in this universe, that I belonged here as much as any speck of stardust, any comet, any planet.
Mae JemisonRead
Whatever is not stone is light
Octavio PazRead
It is not easy to see how the more extreme forms of nationalism can long survive when men have seen the Earth in its true perspective as a single small globe against the stars.
Arthur C. ClarkeRead
Paul commands: 'Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the Traditions which you have been taught, whether by word or by our letter.' From this it is clear that they did not hand down everything by letter, but there is much also that was not written. Like that which was written, the unwritten too is worthy of belief. So let us regard the Tradition of the Church also as worthy of belief. Is it a Tradition? Seek no further.
Saint John ChrysostomRead