“Himself undone urged with infernal Spite,
And dire revenge, makes ruin his delight.”
Sir Richard Blackmore, Prince Arthur (1695)*
Bruce Charlton has a good post on spite, which is malice for its own sake rather than a callous means to some rational end. A “smash-and-grab” thief smashes so that he may grab, but a spiteful smasher smashes for the love of smashing.
Bruce tells us that spite is the foul fruit of resentment. Resentment is, of course, the anger one feels when one suffers what one perceives as unjust humiliation, and this resentment may be itself just or unjust. The archetype of unjust resentment is, of course, Lucifer’s unjust resentment of his inferiority to Christ. Rather than rejoice that he shared Heaven with a being so great and glorious, Lucifer resented Christ, rebelled against the Father, and then resented his just humiliation for that rebellion.
Doubly resentful, consumed by infernal spite, Lucifer-cum-Satan has ever since made ruin his delight.
“The grand Apostate for high Crimes displaced,
From Heaven by fierce almighty vengeance chased,
Till down the unfathomed precipice he fell
Confounded, to the fiery Gulf of Hell:
With rage and envy sees Man’s happy state,
Whence he forever lost had fallen so late,
Himself undone urged with infernal Spite,
And dire revenge, makes ruin his delight.”*
A spiteful man is motivated by the feeling that greatness is the cause of his smallness, success the cause of his failure, happiness the cause of his sadness, wealth the cause of his poverty, beauty the cause of his unprepossessing squalor. He is thus subject to a malignant envy that “makes ruin his delight.” A spiteful man thus aims to destroy rather than admire—perchance one day possess—the objects of his desire.
*) Sir Richard Blackmore, Prince Arthur: An Heroic Poem in Ten Books (London: Awnsham and Hohn Churchill, 1695), p. 47.
The Orthosphere 
Spite can have a link of sorts with libido dominandi. The latter isn’t taught or talked about much in public because it has bad-think connotations in this day and age.
Libido, must be prurient interest, so last century.
Dominandi, what is that, move on.
How about lust for, or will to, power? Also scary or obscure, not clickbaity enough.
Bring back some more thoughtful discourse, some studies of profound nature of human beings rather than the drift toward the superfluous.
They may ignore libido dominandi to hide the fact that Nietzsche was not the first man to reflect on the Will to Power.
One of my personal litmus tests is whether someone is resentful or envious of another person’s success. I find I have very little in common with them and they generate awful negative energy.
I missed the boat on secure UMC existence some time ago. It doesn’t stop me from driving through nice neighborhoods and admiring imposing houses and critiquing the aesthetics. I remember doing this with one acquaintance who just slumped in the passenger seat and grouched about capitalism.
I am not a stranger to envy, but I’m glad to say it is not one of my besetting sins. I am thankful for this because I can take pleasure in things I could never possess. Envy truly is the vice that ruins everything.