Spite Hides but Lives

Spite is a terrible thing.  As a verb, it is to deliberately upset someone or cause them problems.  Many of us secretly spite one another, but knowing it is wrong, mask it in some principle or other.

Examples.

A. He rejected promotion to his disliked colleague’s application because he thought his problem-solving skills were inadequate.  The spite is the rejection. The principle is the strength of or value to the company.

B. She revealed her neighbor had been arrested for driving under the influence, because she said our neighborhood should maintain the highest standards.  The spite is the revelation.  The principle is those high standards.  

C. “Life’s unfair,” is a principle often used to demonstrate a measure of spite toward someone down and out - while you are not.

The Scarlet Letter, a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850, is a lesson in social spite.

One example more.  The cat drank from the dog's water dish just to spite it.  No principle whatever.