Another price that somebodies must pay is knowing that among those who are congratulating them for making it up the ladder are some who can't wait for them to fall off. The German language has a special word for this — schadenfreude — the malicious enjoyment of others' misfortunes. The degree of schadenfreude is proportional to the resentment that accrues if a disparity appears between status claimed and status earned.
— Robert W. Fuller, Somebodies and Nobodies