Downward Comparison Quotes

People laugh to forget their troubles, and to forget their troubles they like to look at people who aren't doing better than they are.

I've never been one to look up the ladder. I've always looked down the ladder. As long as there's one guy down there, I'm fine.

Sometimes, when I'm feeling down because nothing seems to be going right, I like to take a home pregnancy test. Then I can say, 'Hey, at least I'm not pregnant.'

There's always going to be somebody worse off than me.

I hate to admit this, but some days hearing about other people's problems actually cheers me up.

He that would be content with a mean condition must not cast his eye upon one that is in a far better estate than himself, but let him look upon him that is lower than he is, and, if he see that such a one bears poverty comfortably, it will help to quiet him.

There is no being so poor and so contemptible, who does not think there is somebody still poorer, and still more contemptible.

No one likes to have less than they had before. That's the nature of the human animal.

Watching somebody else fail definitely makes you feel better with what you've accomplished and where your standing is in life.

We would not be interested in human beings if we did not have the hope of someday meeting someone worse off than ourselves.

People like it when others are gossiping. When you hear a story about someone's demise or some big faux-pas they made, everyone wants to tune into it, because it's nice to know that someone else made a mistake. It makes you feel elevated for a moment.

I have a little theory about that, too. It's clearly envy. It's bringing people down to your size. It's a narcissistic impulse that didn't used to exist, but we've become increasingly narcissistic as a society, and envy is one of those outcomes.

We buy the tabloids to witness someone else's life go wrong, so we can feel a bit better about our own troubles.