William Penn. (1644–1718). Fruits of Solitude.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
Of Jealousy
190. The Jealous are Troublesome to others, but a Torment to themselves.
191. Jealousy is a kind of Civil War in the Soul, where Judgment and Imagination are at perpetual Jars.
192. This Civil Dissension in the Mind, like that of the Body Politick, commits great Disorders, and lays all waste.
193. Nothing stands safe in its Way: Nature, Interest, Religion, must Yield to its Fury.
194. It violates Contracts, Dissolves Society, Breaks Wedlock, Betrays Friends and Neighbors. No Body is Good, and every one is either doing or designing them a Mischief.
195. It has a Venome that more or less rankles wherever it bites: And as it reports Fancies for Facts, so it disturbs its own House as often as other Folks.
196. Its Rise is Guilt or Ill Nature, and by Reflection thinks its own Faults to be other Men’s; as he that ’s overrun with the Jaundice takes others to be Yellow.
197. A Jealous Man only sees his own Spectrum, when he looks upon other Men, and gives his Character in theirs.