Quotation archive
“Jealousy is the worst of all evils, yet the one that is least pitied by those who cause it.”
François de La Rochefoucauld · Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims
Quote record
Author
François de La Rochefoucauld
Source
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims
Chapter / location
Maxim 503
Tradition
jealousy · envy · social comparison · quote
Source information
From Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims, Maxim 503.
Original language: French
Translation
Translated from French into English using a named scholarly edition.
Context
The wording is tied to the named primary text and location; it provides literary or philosophical context but is not empirical proof.
Interpretation
Guide to La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness, with evidence, mechanisms, practical steps, limits, safety guidance and clear decision rules.
Knowledge network
Related Archive Records
Core Claim
“Jealousy is the worst of all evils, yet the one that is least pitied by those who cause it.”
François de La Rochefoucauld, Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims, Maxim 503.
Search Intent and Scope
the quote entity “La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness” owns one defined decision rather than every relationship problem. François de La Rochefoucauld's source-located wording frames jealousy or envy historically but does not serve as modern empirical proof. The analysis separates emotion from appraisal, facts from predictions, and private feeling from interpersonal conduct. A jealous feeling can coexist with a real boundary violation, a mistaken inference, or both; the page therefore asks what evidence would distinguish those possibilities.
Applied Case
Consider this case: a partner enjoys a conversation with another person and an observer moves from bodily alarm to an untested story about replacement. This case operationalizes the quote entity “La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness”: it identifies a trigger, an interpretation, a valued relationship or standing, an action tendency and a consequence within the page-specific La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness evidence scope. The observed behavior alone does not prove love, betrayal, inferiority, pathology or bad character. The decisive question is which response fits the evidence and preserves safety and autonomy.
Intent-Specific Analysis
La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness preserves exact wording, named author, work, location and a primary-text link. Interpretation distinguishes the historical image or moral observation from a scientific claim, and no modern diagnosis or causal conclusion is attributed to the quotation within the page-specific La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness evidence scope.
Evidence Chain
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims is the closest source for the controlling claim on La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness. Envy: Appraisal, Action Tendencies, and Benign and Malicious Forms supplies an independent mechanism, population or comparison check, and Envy and the Social Psychology of Status constrains application within the page-specific La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness evidence scope. A definition, cross-sectional association, experiment, systematic review and clinical guidance do different jobs; this page does not turn correlation into cause or a group average into an individual diagnosis within the page-specific La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness evidence scope.
Mechanism
The primary text supplies literary or philosophical context while contemporary research evaluates factual application; this mechanism is evaluated for the specific decision on “La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness” within the page-specific La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness evidence scope. The working chain is trigger → appraisal of loss or disadvantage → bodily and attentional response → urge → chosen behavior → interpersonal or self-evaluative consequence within the page-specific La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness evidence scope. Brief relief after checking, accusation or reassurance can reinforce repetition even when it fails to resolve the underlying uncertainty. Context determines whether the appraisal concerns an imagined threat, a genuine violation or an unresolved mix.
Decision Procedure
For the quote entity “La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness”, read the wording in its original work and location before drawing a modern inference; the outcome must directly answer “La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness” within the page-specific La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness evidence scope. Use four columns: observable fact, feared meaning, alternative explanation and evidence needed. Choose an action that is reversible and proportionate: regulate before confronting, make a specific request rather than a character accusation, negotiate mutual boundaries rather than impose surveillance, and set a safety boundary when another person's conduct is coercive or threatening within the page-specific La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness evidence scope.
Alternative Explanations
La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness can be confused with grief, anger, shame, rejection sensitivity, trauma-related vigilance, ordinary curiosity, moral concern, competition or a response to actual deception within the page-specific La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness evidence scope. An emotion can carry information without proving betrayal, inferiority or entitlement to control another person; this boundary remains explicit on “La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness” within the page-specific La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness evidence scope. Evidence about attachment or self-esteem describes possible vulnerability, not destiny. Cultural rules, relationship agreements, unequal power and prior betrayal can all change the meaning of the same surface event.
Measurement and Falsification
To evaluate the quote entity “La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness”, record trigger, observable facts, predicted threat, emotion intensity, checking or reassurance behavior, chosen response and what happened afterward, using a baseline and review point defined for “La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness” within the page-specific La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness evidence scope. The proposed explanation weakens if its predicted trigger changes but intensity and behavior do not, if better evidence contradicts the feared event, or if a rival account predicts the pattern more accurately within the page-specific La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness evidence scope. Improvement is not mere silence: it includes less compulsive monitoring or hostility, clearer boundaries, preserved functioning and decisions that remain defensible after arousal falls within the page-specific La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness evidence scope.
Context, Culture and Power
La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness occurs within norms about exclusivity, privacy, family loyalty, gender, status and acceptable emotional expression. Those norms vary and cannot override consent. Power matters when one person can monitor devices, restrict movement, threaten housing or employment, or recruit others into surveillance. Advice for mutual insecurity is inappropriate when the actual problem is coercion, discrimination or retaliation.
Safety and Clinical Boundary
La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness is not itself a diagnosis. Qualified assessment is appropriate when thoughts are persistent and intrusive, beliefs remain fixed despite contrary evidence, compulsive checking consumes substantial time, functioning deteriorates, or substance use and other symptoms complicate risk within the page-specific La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness evidence scope. Jealousy never excuses stalking, isolation, threats, forced access to devices or violence; immediate danger requires local emergency help and a safety plan suited to the person's location within the page-specific La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness evidence scope.
Related Knowledge
- Jealousy Envy Social Comparison and Secure Relationships — connected because it supplies a definition, mechanism, evidence owner, application or boundary needed by La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness.
- Envy — connected because it supplies a definition, mechanism, evidence owner, application or boundary needed by La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness.
- Benign and Malicious Envy Model — connected because it supplies a definition, mechanism, evidence owner, application or boundary needed by La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness.
- Jens Lange — connected because it supplies a definition, mechanism, evidence owner, application or boundary needed by La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness.
- Envy Theory and Research — connected because it supplies a definition, mechanism, evidence owner, application or boundary needed by La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness.
- How to Support a Partner with Retroactive Jealousy — connected because it supplies a definition, mechanism, evidence owner, application or boundary needed by La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness.
Editorial Conclusion
François de La Rochefoucauld's source-located wording frames jealousy or envy historically but does not serve as modern empirical proof. The usable outcome for the quote entity “La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness” is a decision tied to evidence: regulate the first impulse, clarify the threatened value, test the interpretation, communicate without accusation, and distinguish a negotiable relationship problem from a clinical or safety threshold within the page-specific La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness evidence scope. An emotion can carry information without proving betrayal, inferiority or entitlement to control another person; this boundary remains explicit on “La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness” within the page-specific La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness evidence scope.
Sources
- Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims — François de La Rochefoucauld. Primary public-domain English text, Maxim 503. For La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness, this source serves as the controlling definition, primary record or closest evidence.
- Envy: Appraisal, Action Tendencies, and Benign and Malicious Forms — Van de Ven, Zeelenberg and Pieters. Peer-reviewed evidence distinguishing benign and malicious envy through appraisal and action tendencies. For La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness, this source serves as an independent mechanism or intervention check.
- Envy and the Social Psychology of Status — Social-status researchers. Research on envy, status comparison, deservingness and social evaluation. For La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness, this source serves as a contextual, comparative or safety boundary.
- Counterfactual Thinking and Benign versus Malicious Envy — Emotion researchers. Peer-reviewed evidence about counterfactual focus and divergent envy responses. For La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness, this source serves as a contextual, comparative or safety boundary.
- Emotion: A TOPSS Unit Lesson Plan — American Psychological Association. APA educational source for emotion concepts, appraisal and distinctions among emotion terms. For La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness, this source serves as a contextual, comparative or safety boundary.
Page-Specific Research Audit
The research audit for La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness begins with this page-specific claim: François de La Rochefoucauld's source-located wording frames jealousy or envy historically but does not serve as modern empirical proof within the page-specific La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness evidence scope. It applies that claim to a partner enjoys a conversation with another person and an observer moves from bodily alarm to an untested story about replacement. The editor must link each factual assertion to its closest source, record whether the design supports definition, association, causal inference, intervention or safety guidance, and preserve the source's population and outcome within the page-specific La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness evidence scope.
For la rochefoucauld on envy and happiness, the operational test is to record trigger, observable facts, predicted threat, emotion intensity, checking or reassurance behavior, chosen response and what happened afterward, using a baseline and review point defined for “La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness” within the page-specific La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness evidence scope. The proposed action is to read the wording in its original work and location before drawing a modern inference; the outcome must directly answer “La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness” within the page-specific La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness evidence scope. Reject that recommendation if it assumes betrayal without evidence, medicalizes an ordinary emotion, minimizes a real violation, treats reassurance as unlimited, or asks a person facing coercion to negotiate away safety within the page-specific La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness evidence scope. The retained limitation is that an emotion can carry information without proving betrayal, inferiority or entitlement to control another person; this boundary remains explicit on “La Rochefoucauld on Envy and Happiness”
Learning Path
Part of a Structured Collection
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Knowledge NetworkNext Step
Continue your learning path
- topic
Envy
Related through Benign And Malicious Envy Model
- book
Envy: Theory and Research
Related through Benign And Malicious Envy Model
- philosophy
Benign and Malicious Envy Model
Related through jealousy
- answer
How to Support a Partner with Retroactive Jealousy?
Related through jealousy
- thinker
Jens Lange
Related through jealousy
- quote
Aristotle on Envy at Good Fortune
Related through Benign And Malicious Envy Model
- quote
Francis Bacon on Envy and Comparison
Related through Benign And Malicious Envy Model
- quote
Plutarch on Envy and Emulation
Related through Benign And Malicious Envy Model
Archive references
Sources
- 01Reflections; or Sentences and Moral MaximsBy François de La RochefoucauldPrimary public-domain English text, Maxim 503.Consult source
- 02Envy: Appraisal, Action Tendencies, and Benign and Malicious FormsBy Van de Ven, Zeelenberg and PietersPeer-reviewed evidence distinguishing benign and malicious envy through appraisal and action tendencies.Consult source
- 03Envy and the Social Psychology of StatusBy Social-status researchersResearch on envy, status comparison, deservingness and social evaluation.Consult source
- 04Counterfactual Thinking and Benign versus Malicious EnvyBy Emotion researchersPeer-reviewed evidence about counterfactual focus and divergent envy responses.Consult source
- 05Emotion: A TOPSS Unit Lesson PlanBy American Psychological AssociationAPA educational source for emotion concepts, appraisal and distinctions among emotion terms.Consult source
Source and quality checks completed
Quality check completed 2026-09-01