JOHN TIERNEY ON ENVY: Envy May Bear Fruit, but It Also Has an Aftertaste. Envy focuses the mind: “By paying more attention to these people, we might learn to emulate some of the strategies that yielded their advantages. Or we might notice something that we could use to embarrass and hinder them — again, not a terribly exalted cognitive experience, but potentially useful in winning struggles for status and resources.” But it’s also tiring.