Envy

We feel pain at others' advantages and pleasure at their misfortune — a deeply destructive emotion that creates no value, only misery, and poisons what we have.

• We are more disturbed by a colleague's salary increase than motivated by our own future prospects — even if our absolute position is unchanged.
• Countries with lower average income but higher equality report greater wellbeing than wealthier countries with greater inequality — relative position matters more than absolute.
• Warren Buffett's advice: envy is the only one of the seven deadly sins that offers no pleasure whatsoever — it is pure suffering.