The POTTER envies the potter, the smith the smith

Meaning & Analysis

A potter is jealous of another potter, and a smith is jealous of another smith—those engaged in the same trade often envy each other.

Insights

Professional Rivalry

Highlights the competitive jealousy that arises most strongly between individuals of the same trade or profession, where comparison is easiest and competition most direct.

Intraspecific Envy

Suggests that envy and animosity are most intense among those who share similar circumstances, skills, or social standing, rather than between strangers or those of different classes.

Historical Symbolism

Crafts such as pottery and smithing were visible, local trades, making rivalry personal and observable. The proverb uses these archetypes to universalize a social truth about competition and envy in any shared field.

Cultural and Literary Resonance

With roots in Erasmus and echoed in other sayings like 'Two of a trade seldom agree,' the proverb is part of a broad European tradition observing that similarity, not difference, breeds the fiercest rivalry.

Psychological Dimensions

Reveals the insecurity and desire for distinction that drive individuals to measure themselves against peers, leading to envy where identification is strongest.

Rhetorical Devices

Parallelism

The repetition and mirroring in 'the potter envies the potter, the smith the smith' provides rhetorical force, reinforcing the proverb’s observation of reciprocity and universality.

Antithesis

Juxtaposes expected kinship with actual rivalry, highlighting the paradox of social proximity breeding antagonism.

Alliteration

The repeated 'p' and 's' sounds in 'potter' and 'smith' add musicality and memorability to the proverb.

envyrivalrytradecompetitionprofessionpsychology

Analyzed with gpt-4.1 on July 10, 2025

Transcription

Quotations

Figulus figulo invidet, faber fabro.

— Erasmus, Adagia 8OE

*Assuredly where men exercise one science, there comonly the lykenes of the science doth rather gender hart brennyng then it dothe loue or beneuolence.

— 1539, TAV., f. 8v

The Potter hates the Potter, and the beggar hates the beggar, and each one his next neighbour, more then any other.

— 1617, MORYSON, Itinerary, III iv iii, IV 275

In the most men the Prouerbe is verified, Figulus figulo inuidet; One Potter enuies another.

— 1618, DYKE, Philemon, p. 23

Cross References

Related Proverbs

F596 Long absent soon FORGOTTEN 94.9%C881 It is better to be acold than a CUCKOLD 94.8%Q5 Gup,¹ QUEAN, gup 94.6%P509 I hate a POT COMPANION with a good memory 94.5%F725 Who lends to a FRIEND loses double 94.5%P524 POVERTY breeds strife 94.5%V27 Never inquire whence VENISON comes 94.3%F466 The FOOL is most fusty (absurd) when he is least foolish 94.2%F432 FOLLY is a bonny dog 94.2%P395 He who swears when he is at PLAY may challenge his damnation by way of purchase 94.2%C864 From the CROWN of the head to the sole of the foot 94.2%N39 Ill NATURES, the more you ask them the more they stick 94.2%N62 NECESSITY makes the coward grow courageous 94.1%N298 NOTHING is good or bad but by comparison 93.9%N115 Our NEIGHBOR's ground yields better corn than our own 93.9%N307 NOTHING is well said or done in a passion (in anger) 93.7%F47 Too much FAMILIARITY breeds contempt 93.6%P246 PETER is so much God's that God gets him not 93.6%F440 He is doubly fond¹ that justifies his FONDNESS 93.5%C239 The first CHAPTER of fools is to hold themselves wise 93.5%

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