Quotes About Comparison, Sourced and Sorted by Use

Quotes about comparison are lines about measuring yourself against other people. The sourced ones below come from Max Ehrmann, Thoreau, Emerson and Shakespeare, each with the work named, and the most famous one, “Comparison is the thief of joy,” is covered at the end because it has no confirmed source.

Quotes about comparing yourself with others

“If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.”

— Max Ehrmann, “Desiderata” (1927)

Ehrmann’s prose poem is the clearest sourced statement on the topic. It makes a practical point: there is always someone ahead and someone behind, so the comparison never settles anything.

“Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope, / With what I most enjoy contented least.”

— William Shakespeare, Sonnet 29 (1609)

In the sonnet, the speaker envies others’ talents and prospects and feels worse about his own. The poem turns when he thinks of the person he loves.

Quotes about being yourself

“Envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance” (1841)

Emerson’s full sentence says a person must “take himself for better, for worse, as his portion.” The short version is the one people post.

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.”

— Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854), Chapter 18, “Conclusion”

Thoreau continues, “Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” It is a line about not matching the pace of others.

Quotes about comparison and social media

None of the sourced quotes above mention social media, because they predate it. They still apply: the point in each is that the comparison is unfair because you are seeing someone else’s results and your own process. For a caption or a school assignment, pairing Ehrmann with a plain sentence of your own works better than looking for a modern quote with a doubtful source.

“Comparison is the thief of joy”

This line is credited to Theodore Roosevelt on thousands of pages. No speech, letter or book of Roosevelt’s that has been identified contains it. It is also credited to Mark Twain and others without a source. Use it unattributed, or use Ehrmann instead.

Short lines you can use without credit

The lines below are written for this page and have no outside source.

• You see their results and your process.
• Different start, different pace, different route.
• Someone is always ahead. It tells you nothing.

Related reading

For lines on staying with a long goal, see Quotes for Growth Mindset, Sourced and Sorted by Use and Lifelong Learning Quotes, Attributed and Sorted by Theme.

FAQ

Who said “Comparison is the thief of joy”?

It is usually credited to Theodore Roosevelt, but no source has been found. Treat it as unattributed.

What is a sourced quote about not comparing yourself to others?

Max Ehrmann’s “Desiderata” (1927): “If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter.”

Is Desiderata an old poem?

It dates from 1927, which means it is old enough to quote with a full citation but not so old that the text is in doubt.