Pico Iyer Quotes

When I count other people's blessings I lose sight of mine.

Generally, we admire the thing we are not.

You just want something else that someone else has, but that doesn't mean what you have isn't beautiful, because people always want what you have, and you always want what they have - no one is ever 100 per cent like, 'Yes, I'm the bomb dot com - from head to toe!'

I look at what I have not and think myself unhappy; others look at what I have and think me happy.

The lives we live are a bit of a straight-hair vs. curly-hair thing. We often want what we don't have. In reality, it's not about better or worse; it's just perception.

Don't waste time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind.

Can people who hunger so desperately for what other people have ever have enough?

I never admire another's fortune so much that I became dissatisfied with my own.

If we only wanted to be happy, it would be easy; but we want to be happier than other people, and that is almost always difficult, since we think them happier than they are.

People who have what they want are fond of telling people who haven't what they want that they really don't want it.

Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.

Everybody always thinks the grass is always greener.

Love looks through a telescope; envy, through a microscope.

Most of the time, we keep looking outside and feeling sad about what others have. Those are mere excuses.

Never pretend that the things you haven't got are not worth having.

Nobody has a perfect life and it's entirely possible that if you want someone else's life they are busy wanting someone else's too–maybe even yours.

How could any of us truly appreciate our lives if we had nothing else to compare them to?

I had the blues because I had no shoes until upon the street, I met a man who had no feet.

See how many are better off than you are, but consider how many are worse.

The grass is always greener around the fire hydrant.

So many people are looking at what's wrong, and I try to encourage them to look at what's right in their life. A lot of people have it a lot worse than you do.

We spend our time envying people whom we wouldn't wish to be.

Man never thinks himself happy, but when he enjoys those things which others want or desire.

The grass isn't always greener on the other side!

Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more than when we have nothing and want some. We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than when we seem to lack but one thing.