Note: It seems that this saying is a commonplace that dates back to antiquity. A close variant can be found in Cicero’s De Or. 2.52.209 “Men envy chiefly their equals or inferiors when they perceive themselves left behind, and are mortified that the others have outstripped them; but there is often a strong unfavourable feeling towards superiors, which is the stronger if they are intolerably arrogant, and transgress the fair bounds of common justice through outstanding dignity or fortune.” — PPP
