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Part I: On Virtue

Section I: Prologue

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Chapter 31: Avoidance of Anger

Verse 304
On the left a musician is smiling, singing happily for there no anger in his mind. Behind him, with the sad, contorted face made that way by anger, a man holds a fiery torch, which represents the flames of his anger.

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Weaver's Wisdom

Verse 301

It is restraint that restrains rage when it can injure.
If it cannot harm, what does restraint really matter?

Verse 302

Wrath is wrong even when it cannot cause injury,
but when it can, there is nothing more evil.

Verse 303

Forget anger toward all who have offended you,
for it gives rise to teeming troubles.

Verse 304

Anger kills the face's smile and the heart's joy.
Does there exist a greater enemy than one's own anger?

Verse 305

If a man be his own guard, let him guard himself against rage.
Left unguarded, his own wrath will annihilate him.

Verse 306

Anger's fire engulfs all who draw near it,
burning even friends and family who risk rescue.

Verse 307

As a man trying to strike the ground with his hand can hardly fail,
just as surely will one who treasures his temper be destroyed.

Verse 308

Though others inflict wrongs as painful as flaming torches,
it is good if a man can refrain from inflammatory tantrums.

Verse 309

If hostile thoughts do not invade his mind,
all his other thoughts may swiftly manifest.

Verse 310

As men who have died resemble the dead,
so men who have renounced rage resemble renunciates.