The Grass Is Always Greener on the Other Side
Others' situations always look better than your own — the proverb every restless person hears at every fence.
Origin
Roman poet Ovid in *Ars Amatoria* (c. 2 BCE) already wrote 'fertilior seges est alienis semper in agris' — 'the harvest is always more abundant in another man's fields.' The English barnyard-fence form is fixed by the early 20th century, and the 1924 song 'The Grass Is Always Greener (In the Other Fellow's Yard)' cemented its modern phrasing.
Modern usage
Standard diagnosis of any envy — the better job at another company, the better partner someone else has, the better life in another city. Routinely deployed in marriage counseling and the 'should I leave my job' subreddit. Often answered with the more cynical 'the grass is greener where you water it.'
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