Envy Is a Way Nowhere—One of the Deadly Sins to Break You

Envy Is a Way Nowhere—One of the Deadly Sins to Break You

Charlie: “Another thing that often causes folly and ruin is the ‘self-serving bias,’ often subconscious, to which we’re all subject. You think that ‘the true little me’ is entitled to do what it wants to do. And, for instance, why shouldn’t the true little me get what it wants by overspending its income. Well, there once was a man who became the most famous composer in the world. But he was utterly miserable most of the time. And one of the reasons was that he always overspent his income. That was Mozart. If Mozart couldn’t get by with this kind of asinine conduct, I don’t think you should try it.

“By the way, the idea that caring that someone is making money faster (than you are) is one of the deadly sins. Envy is a really stupid sin because it’s the only one you could never possibly have any fun at. There is a lot of pain and no fun. Why would you want to get on that trolley?”

Peter: “Well that is fantastic, nobility and justice. All is with you and for you, Charlie Munger. But a strange thing happened: all of the capitalistic progress happens when people want to compete with each other. This is an endless process. Of course, you may disagree, but envy, especially greed, is so motivating. It must be admitted you have a great fortune in meeting Warren Buffett. Of course, he is lucky as well. But…some folks just have luck! Judge for yourself; you are still sitting in your law office. Munger, all of these litigations, for corporate people, the folks you don’t really like—you have this pressure, and you don’t have any time or less time for your ‘thinking and reading’ Do you understand how to get a billion from a legal practice? Heh-heh, I do not. I will even have to look in a dictionary for the word envy; the legend is so fresh but hard to credit. Is it any bad in envy? ”

Charlie: “Envy, of course, joins chemicals in terms of causing misery. It was wreaking havoc long before it got a bad press in the laws of Moses. If you wish to retain the contribution of envy to misery, I recommend that you never read any of the biographies of that good Christian Samuel Johnson, because his life demonstrates in an enticing way the possibility and advantage of transcending envy. Resentment has always worked with me exactly as it worked for Carson. I cannot recommend it rightly enough to you if you desire misery. Johnson spoke well when he said that life is hard enough to swallow without squeezing in the bitter rind of resentment.

“For those of you who want misery, I also recommend refraining from practice of the Disraeli compromise, designed for people who find it impossible to quit resentment cold turkey. Disraeli, as he rose to become one of the greatest prime ministers, learned to give up vengeance as a motivation for action, but he did retain some outlet for resentment by putting the names of people who wronged him on pieces of paper in a drawer. Then from time to time, he reviewed these names and took pleasure in noting the way the world had taken his enemies down without his assistance.”

Peter: “But don’t you think that a real misery comes from sitting and reading and a lazy life when people are like parasites—they spend their life lazy, with all of these books around. In our days, one could buy even intelligence for money, like at a marketplace. You just happened to be in the right place at the right time to buy all of these blue chips, which were undervalued. There is nothing noble in that, and now you got extraordinary results. And all of these folks who worship you on every Berkshire annual meeting gathered round a holy God that couldn’t be better: intelligent, a billionaire, rational, worldy wisdom, expert on human misjudgment—all qualities at once, not something you can find in everyday life.” Peter seemed to be proud when he made that statement. He was an impulsive man, but today is a day when he pointed out just everything that was in his mind. When Peter had finished, he quickly looked into Charlie’s eyes. Charlie was staring back. There was nothing emotional or disappointing in Charlie’s face. One could even notice that Charlie was almost expecting this kind of dialogue. Peter, without saying a word, brushed his face with his hands; he was ashamed, clearly displeased with his own statements.

Charlie was not in a position to take it personally. His thoughts were on what causes envy in economics, and one very funny story came to mind.