1. When I have lost my temper
I have lost my reason too.
I'm never proud of anything
Which angrily I do.
When I have talked in anger
And my cheeks were flaming red
I have always uttered something
Which I wish I had not said,
In anger I have never
Done a kindly deed or wise,
But many things for which I felt
I should apologize.
In looking back across my life,
And all I've lost or made,
I can't recall a single time
When fury ever paid.
So I struggle to be patient,
For I've reached a wiser age;
I do not want to do a thing
Or speak a word in rage.
I have learned by sad experience
That when my temper flies
I never do a worthy deed,
A decent deed or wise.

2. The Emperor Julius Caesar, when provoked, used to repeat the whole Roman alphabet before he permitted himself to speak. (Jonah 4:4; Eph. 4:26)

3. Anger weakens a man. It puts him at a disadvantage in every undertaking in life. When Sinbad and his sailors landed on one of their tropical islands, they saw high up in the trees coconuts which could quench their thirst and satisfy their hunger. The coconuts were far above the reach of Sinbad and the sailors, but in the branches of the trees were the chattering apes. Sinbad and his men began to throw stones and sticks up at the apes. This enraged the monkeys and they began to seize the coconuts and hurl them down at the men on the ground. That was just what Sinbad and his men wanted. They got the apes angry so that the apes would gather their food for them. That is a good illustration of how by indulgence in anger we play into the hands of our foes.

4. Anger is just one letter short of danger.

5. The anger of today is the remorse of tomorrow.

6. The worst of slaves is he whom anger rules.

7. Another thing that seems to improve the longer you keep it is your temper.

8. To be angry with a weak man is proof that you are not very strong yourself.

9. Temper gets people into trouble, but pride keeps them there.

10. Anger is a state that starts with madness & ends with regret.

11. Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.

12. He who can suppress a moment's anger may prevent a day of sorrow.

13. It is easy to fly into a passion--anybody can do that--but to be angry with the right person at the right time & with the right object in the right way--that is not easy, & it is not everyone who can do it. --Aristotle

14. Our anger & impatience often prove much more mischievous than the things about which we are angry or impatient. --Marcus Aurelius

15. Anger is seldom without a reason, but seldom a good one.--Benjamin Franklin

16. Act nothing in a furious passion. It is putting to sea in a storm.

17. When anger was in Cain's heart, murder was not far off.--Matthew Henry

18. Nothing makes room for Satan more than wrath.

19. The greatest remedy for anger is delay.--Seneca

20. Anger may rush into a wise man's bosom, but should not rest there.--John Trapp

21. For every minute you're angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness.

22. He is a fool who cannot get angry, but he is a wise man who will not.

23. Hot words never resulted in cool judgement.

24. When a person strikes in anger, he usually misses the mark.

25. When you're right you can afford to keep your temper; when you're wrong you can't afford to lose it.

26. If you would like to control your temper, be like a kettle--sing when you boil.

27. The best cure for a short temper is a lengthy prayer.

28. Some people are like firecrackers--they explode when the heat is applied.

29. Forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the high cost of hatred, & the waste of energy.

30. When a man loses his temper, his reason goes on a vacation.

31. It is always a good idea to be selfish with your temper--so always keep it.

32. He who has a sharp tongue soon cuts his own throat.

33. Anger makes your mouth work faster than your mind.

34. Patience strengthens the spirit, sweetens the temper, stifles anger, subdues pride, & bridles the tongue.

35. The man who cannot be angry at evil usually lacks enthusiasm for good.

36. God permits us to be angry in order to gnash our teeth against the Devil--not to set us in array against each other.--"Be angry & sin not." (Eph. 4:26)

37. Never answer an angry word with an angry word. It's the second one that produces a quarrel.

38. Don't give anyone a piece of your mind--you need it all yourself!

39. Swallowing angry words is much easier than having to eat them!

40. You never can be quite sure what kind of a mind a person has until he gives you a piece of it.

41. Men with clenched fists cannot shake hands.

42. When the other follow gets angry, he is "ill-tempered". When I do, it's because my "nerves are bothering me".

43. The trouble with letting off steam is--it only gets you into more hot water.

44. He who blows his stack adds to the World's pollution.

45. You can't put things across by getting cross.

46. An angry man is seldom reasonable; a reasonable man is seldom angry.

47. Anger is like the fire extinguisher in a building--it is to be used only in case of emergency.

48. When angry, count ten before speaking. When very angry, count one hundred & then don't speak.

49. Striking while the iron is hot may be all right, but don't strike while the head is hot.

50. You are not a dynamic person simply because you blow your top.

51. The size of a man is measured by the size of the thing that makes him angry.

52. Anyone who angers you conquers you.

53. There are two things that a man should never be angry at--what he can help, & what he cannot.

54. Form the habit of closing your mouth when angry.

55. As a general rule, the angriest person in a controversy is the one who is wrong.

56. He who goes to bed angry has the Devil for a bed-fellow. Never take your enemies to bed with you.

57. It's easy to get up in the air. Coming down is what hurts.

58. No matter whether you are on the road or in an argument, when you begin to see red, STOP!

59. One of the sorriest spectacles imaginable is the anger of two people who have gotten into an argument over something that neither of them knows anything about.

60. We tend to think of anger as sin, & usually correctly, but sometimes it is sinful not to be angry. It is unthinkable that God would not be purely & perfectly angry with sin.

61. In anger Moses killed the Egyptian & had to flee for his life & it took him 40 years of patiently, humbly, tending sheep in the wilderness, with time to listen to the Voice of God instead of his own impulses, before he was ready for the slow, labourious, patient work of the Exodus--slow, but sure!

62. Moses was 40 days & nights on the mountain hearing from God, but in one split second of anger, he broke all Ten Commandments & lost the whole thing, & had to go back & spend another 40 days; his haste took him twice as long.

63. When Moses got upset & broke the tablets, he had to go back & stay another 40 days on the mountain to get quiet again! What good did it do for him to get upset--he just had to get quiet again to hear from the Lord. He might as well have come down & taken it quietly & calmly. It would have saved him another 40 days up there.

64. I abhor all violence except the violence of the judgements of God. God's Word says, "Keep not company with an angry man!" (Prov.22:24) because an angry person is apt to do violence & actual bodily harm & cause all kinds of trouble.

65. How are we to understand God's wrath? Does God raise His voice...get red in the face...allow His Own feelings to cloud His objectivity...& sometimes lose control? No, the wrath of God is as pure as the holiness of God. When God is angry, He is perfectly angry. When He is displeased, there is every reason He should be.

66. Anger is a thief that seizes control of man's faculties and uses them blindly and destructively. Usually a man who loses his temper also temporarily loses his ability to think logically.

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