quotations about anger
Anger is certainly a kind of baseness; as it appears well in the weakness of those subjects in whom it reigns; children, women, old folks, sick folks. Only men must beware, that they carry their anger rather with scorn, than with fear; so that they may seem rather to be above the injury, than below it; which is a thing easily done, if a man will give law to himself in it.
FRANCIS BACON
"Of Anger", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral
Anger as soon as fed is dead,
'Tis starving makes it fat.
EMILY DICKINSON
Poems
If the angry and revengeful person would only govern his passions and light the lamp of affection in his heart, that it might stream out in his features and actions, he would soon discover a wide difference in his communion with the world. A kind word, an obliging action, even if it be a trifling one, has a power superior to the harp of David in calming the billows of the soul.
NICIAS BALLARD COOKSEY
Helps to Happiness
Anger is uneasiness or discomposure of the mind upon the receipt of any injury, with a present purpose of revenge.
JOHN LOCKE
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
One of the biggest myths about anger is that it cannot be changed or treated. Research studies indicate that the way one expresses anger is not an inherited trait, but a learned behavior. Therefore, one can learn more effective and appropriate ways to express it. Every year, thousands of people self-injure, cause millions of dollars of property damage and even murder others out of anger. A disagreement at a family picnic resulted in a stabbing because one person did not like the food. A road rage incident turned deadly because both parties were in a heightened emotional state. A man was killed because he saw his wife's former boyfriend talking to her. If anger is unchecked, it can turn into a deadly force.
NANCY RYBURN
"Angry outbursts learned behavior, not inherited trait", The Pine Bluff Commercial, March 11, 2016
Anger is a valuable emotion, even though we tend to see it as a problem. We think of anger as destructive. But anger is actually instructive. What deems it destructive or instructive is what we do with our anger. In other words, it depends on the actions we take. When we express our needs calmly and without judgement, we show respect to others and to ourselves -- and maybe we even get our needs met.
MARGARITA TARTAKOVSKY
"How to Express Your Anger Effectively", PsychCentral, February 26, 2016
We boil at different degrees.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
Society and Solitude
Every present anger derives from past weakness.
GLEN DUNCAN
The Last Werewolf
Anger is a violent emotion, vindictive, and as dangerous to he who is driven by it as to anyone on whom it is turned.
DEAN KOONTZ
Odd Apocalypse
Anger is neither legitimate nor illegitimate, meaningful nor pointless. Anger simply is. To ask, "Is my anger legitimate?" is similar to asking, "Do I have the right to be thirsty? After all, I just had a glass of water fifteen minutes ago. Surely my thirst is not legitimate. And besides, what's the point of getting thirsty when I can't get anything to drink now, anyway?" Anger is something we feel. It exists for a reason and always deserves our respect and attention. We all have a right to everything we feel--and certainly our anger is no exception.
HARRIET GOLDHOR LERNER
The Dance of Anger
A man can't eat anger for breakfast and sleep with it at night and not suffer damage to his soul.
GARRISON KEILLOR
"Could I have been any more inept?", Salon, Oct. 26, 1999
Holding anger is poison. It eats u from inside. We might think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But no, hatred is a Curved Blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves!
NADIA BUARI
"Holding on to anger is poisonous", Ghana Web, March 11, 2016
Anger is generally seen as an unwelcome presence in our midst, however natural it may be. Although each person, and each society, is charged with how anger is to be appropriately channeled, the denial of anger, or its continuous repression, is a deep source of our psychopathology and will invariably seek its expression in a less healthful fashion.
JAMES HOLLIS
Why Good People Do Bad Things
Anger is one of the most destructive forces that men and women permit themselves to indulge. It is closely related to fear, but the conspicuous difference is that fear seems to be freezing or paralyzing in its nature, while anger is heating and consuming.
WALTER MATTHEWS
"Anger"
Many circumstances arise in the experience of every one to excite anger, and doubtless the average man and woman has little idea of its destructive nature. No matter how great the aggravation no one is justified in indulging fits of anger. It never helps, but always hurts. Rage, fury, hate, wrath and revenge are extremely destructive. They not only injure the one against whom they are hurled, but react back against the individual who indulges them by exciting trouble and disease of various kinds in the body. They are intensely consuming, and the action in the body is very rapid. Anger often results in complications which may bring misery and unhappiness into the lives of relatives and friends. The conditions resulting from fits of anger may continue throughout the life of all the individuals affected by it.
WALTER MATTHEWS
"Anger"
Anger is sometimes unavoidable, as when we witness or hear of some outrageous act of injustice or cruelty. But if we must have it, let it be quick and soon over. For when it remains in us it is we who suffer, and not our adversary. It unnerves our hand, blinds our vision, impairs our judgment, and when it leaps to vengeance invariably overleaps, bringing to us regret and remorse in lieu of satisfaction.
FRANK CRANE
"Anger Poison"
Anger is the resentment of the animal, and gentle blood alone makes the gentleman.
AMOS BRONSON ALCOTT
Table Talk
My anger bingo card is full. Something will turn. It's peaks and valleys. When wanting to access anger, it does help, going through these sessions. Five hours at a time of pretending to be an action hero, or yelling and screaming, does exercise or exorcise those demons, as does a really long, late, drunken night of karaoke.
JASON SUDEIKIS
"Jason Sudeikis: 'A Toot Of Anger Is A Good Thing'", Contact Music, February 29, 2016
What we know about anger is that it inflates self-importance and builds a wall between genuine introspection and finding right action. Anger can be a useful signal, alerting us that something is amiss, but if we don't explore what truly makes us angry, anger isolates us from our heart's intelligence and our connection with others. Anger may be thrilling, but it also leaves us separate and alone.
ALAN BRISKIN
"How Demagogues Turn Anger Into Collective Poison: The Middle-Finger Party", Huffington Post, March 2, 2016
Anger makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor.
ELIZABETH I