Helmut Schoeck Envy: A Theory of Social Behavior (1987 ed.)
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The best means of protection against the envy of a neighbor is to drive a Rolls-Royce instead of a car only slightly better than his...overwhelming and astounding inequality arouses far less envy than minimal inequality.

— Helmut Schoeck on Tocqueville effect

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The best means of protection against the envy of a neighbor is to drive a Rolls-Royce instead of a car only slightly better than his...overwhelming and astounding inequality arouses far less envy than minimal inequality." in the context of "Helmut Schoeck Envy: A Theory of Social Behavior (1987 ed.)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Tocqueville effect" (Quotes) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 19, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Helmut Schoeck

About Helmut Schoeck

Helmut Schoeck (3 July 1922 – 2 February 1993) was an Austrian-German sociologist and writer.