“I don’t envy you.” When someone says that, they are implying that you will have a bad time dealing with whatever, or whoever, you’re about to encounter. It’s a discouraging remark which often comes with a note of reproach, suggesting that you shouldn’t be doing whatever it is. This is odd. If envy is a deadly sin, then a promise not to commit it should be reassuring rather than undermining. But envy is a curiosity among sins. It is the motive of Milton’s “infernal serpent” in Eden and it can twist itself into similarly unexpected shapes.