Anger

Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial.

Take away thy opinion, and then there is taken away the complaint, 'I have been harmed.' Take away the complaint, and the harm is taken away.

It is a man's special privilege to love even those who wrong him.

The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.

When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they cannot tell good from evil.

The soul of man does violence to itself, first of all, when it becomes an abscess, and, as it were, a tumour on the universe... Secondly, when it is averse from any man, or even moves towards him with the intention of injuring, such as are the souls of those who are angry.

When a man has done thee any wrong, immediately consider with what opinion about good or evil he has done wrong. For when thou hast seen this, thou wilt pity him, and wilt neither wonder nor be angry.

Say nothing more to thyself than what the first appearances report. Suppose that it has been reported to thee that a certain person speaks ill of thee. This has been reported; but that thou hast been injured, that has not been reported.

Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them then or bear with them.

When thou art offended at any man's fault, forthwith turn to thyself and reflect in what like manner thou dost err thyself.

Continually think of those who have been very indignant at anything... Where are they all now? Smoke and ash, a tale, or not even a tale.

The best way of avenging thyself is not to become like the wrong-doer.

I shall meet to-day inquisitive, ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil.

If any man has done wrong, the harm is his own. But perhaps he has not done wrong.

When a man is properly disciplined in self-respect and reverence, he will not be easily moved to indignation, and his aspect will not be querulous.

If a man is mistaken, instruct him kindly and show him his error. But if thou art not able, blame thyself, or blame not even thyself.

It is the part of a great man to despise injuries from his inferiors.

It is the part of a great man to despise injuries from his inferiors. The most contemptible form of revenge is not to be like the person who performed the injury.

The greatest remedy for anger is delay.

The best plan is to reject straightway the first incentives to anger, to resist its very beginnings, and to take care not to be betrayed into it.

How much better to heal than seek revenge from injury. Vengeance wastes a lot of time and exposes you to many more injuries than the first that sparked it.

Anger is a short madness.

The greatest cure of anger is delay: beg anger to grant thee this at the first, not that it may pardon the offence, but that it may judge of it aright.

The best remedy for injuries is to forget them.

As a rule, men become angry with those things they either do not expect, or do not wish. Nothing weighs upon us more heavily than the unexpected.

Anger is a short madness. For it does not err in judgment, but it is mad.

The other passions affect the mind; anger affects the whole man. It makes the hands ready, the eyes fierce, the face swollen, the veins black, the breath hard and uneven.

Some of the wisest of men have called anger a short madness. For it is equally devoid of self-control, regardless of decorum, forgetful of kinship, obstinately intent on whatever it has begun.

The cause of anger is the belief that we have been wronged. But this belief is often false, and even when true, the wrong is not such as we imagine.

Let a man retreat into himself as much as he can; let him associate with those who will make him better; let him read good books. These will all be helps against anger.

Anger, if once it is allowed to rise, does not easily return to reason; it rushes on and, like fire, consumes all before it.

We should allow the wrongdoer to explain himself. Often what we take to be an insult is not one; often praise is hidden under a rough word.

The greatest remedy for anger is delay. Beg anger to grant you this at the first, not that it may pardon the offense, but that it may judge it aright.

Let us be kind to those who sin; we shall be the first to gain by it. Anger is bad for the body; it harms the angry man more than the object of his anger.

The greatest revenge is the refusal to take revenge. The clemency of the great is the noblest victory.

Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things.

Remember that it is not he who gives abuse or strikes you who insults you, but it is your opinion about these things as being insulting.

Everything has two handles, the one by which it may be borne, the other by which it cannot. If your brother acts unjustly, do not lay hold on the action by the handle of his injustice... but by the opposite — that he is your brother.

If a person had delivered up your body to some passer-by, you would certainly be angry. And do you feel no shame in delivering up your own mind to any reviler, to be disconcerted and confounded?

When any person harms you, or speaks badly of you, remember that he acts or speaks from a supposition of its being his duty. Now, it is not possible that he should follow what appears right to you, but what appears so to himself.

For to fall into error unwillingly is a man's misfortune. He who suffers pain, then, is not the sufferer of the injury, but the doer of it.

If a person gave your body to any stranger he met on his way, you would certainly be angry. And do you feel no shame in handing over your own mind to be confused and mystified by any one who happens to verbally attack you?

In the case of most men, when they are insulted, they are disturbed and troubled. But the philosopher, when he is insulted, examines whether he has deserved it; if he has, he corrects himself; if not, he smiles.

Do not wish for the death of any man, even if he is a wicked man. For he is not wicked of his own will, but because he is mistaken about what is good.

The passions are all in our own power. We cannot prevent the first movements of the soul, but we can prevent them from becoming passions by withholding our consent.

Anger is a brief madness. It takes away the judgment and makes a man the enemy of his best friends. The philosopher must therefore extirpate it.

Consider that men will do the same things nevertheless, even though thou shouldst burst.

When thou art offended at any man's fault, forthwith turn to thyself and reflect in what like manner thou dost err thyself.

Every perturbation is a violent motion of the mind either against reason, or without any regard to it.

Nothing is more praiseworthy, nothing more clearly shows a great and noble soul, than clemency and readiness to forgive.

Posidonius held that the passions arise from an unruly power in the soul, and must be curbed by reason.

Some of the wisest of men have therefore called anger a brief madness.

No plague has cost the human race more dear.

The best plan is to reject at once the first incitement to anger, to resist even its beginnings.

The greatest remedy for anger is delay.

Anger is an enemy to counsel.

We are mad not only individually, but nationally.

The greatest punishment of wickedness is to have committed it.

Whoever thinks himself happy makes others so.

Reflect that many things which the mob deems bitter are not really so.

The best remedy for injury is to forget it.

We must every day call ourselves to account: What bad habit have I cured today? What fault resisted?

The very best remedy for anger is delay: beg time from anger.