Stendhal writes:
I do not know what effect a man’s jealousy has on the heart of the woman he loves. Jealousy on the part of a lover who bores her must inspire extreme irritation almost to the point of hatred, if the object of this jealousy is more attractive than the jealous man, for, as Madame de Coulanges used to say, one only likes jealousy in those of whom one might be jealous one’s self.
The insight is reprised, I find, in a track by Destiny’s Child, “Bug A Boo”:
It’s not hot that when I’m blockin’ your phone number / you call me over your best friend’s house / And it’s not hot that I can’t even go out with my girlfriends / without you trackin’ me down / You need to chill out with that mess / ’cause you can’t keep havin’ me stressed / ’cause everytime my phone rings it seems to be you / and I’m prayin’ that it is someone else