“Fury is the weak person’s idea of strength, and saber-rattling is the simpleton’s idea of strategy. Focused calmness wins battles.” — Phil Van Treuren
There are few topics that Stoic philosophers have written on — or given more attention to — than that of anger. Stoicism teaches that anger is the most damaging and dangerous of all human emotions, and that we must try with all our might to overcome anger’s many pitfalls.
There are more Stoic quotes on anger than almost any other topic, and Seneca even wrote an entire book (well, a series of open letters) called “On Anger” that goes into painstaking detail about what causes rage it and how to prevent it.
After you’ve read the Stoicism quotes about anger listed below, don’t stop there. Take time to find more information about the advice that Stoics have given through the ages on how to stop being angry, because it could be one of the most important things you ever devote your attention to.
Stoic Quotes on Anger & Revenge from Marcus Aurelius
“The best way to avenge yourself is to not be like that.”
“To investigate and analyze, with understanding and logic, the principles we ought to live by. Not to display anger or other emotions. To be free of passion and yet full of love.”
“It is possible to curb your arrogance, to overcome pleasure and pain, to rise above your ambition, and to not be angry with stupid and ungrateful people— yes, even to care for them.”
“None of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands, and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are obstructions.”
“How much more harmful are the consequences of anger and grief than the circumstances that aroused them in us!”
Stoic Quotes on Anger & Revenge from Epictetus
“You must completely control your desire and shift your avoidance to what lies within your reasoned choice. You must no longer feel anger, resentment, envy, or regret.”
“Every habit and capability is confirmed and grows in its corresponding actions, walking by walking, and running by running . . . therefore, if you want to do something make a habit of it, if you don’t want to do that, don’t, but make a habit of something else instead. The same principle is at work in our state of mind. When you get angry, you’ve not only experienced that evil, but you’ve also reinforced a bad habit, adding fuel to the fire.”
Stoic Quotes on Anger & Revenge from Seneca
“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 always outlasts hurt. Best to take the opposite course.”
“The greatest remedy for anger is delay.”
“What is more cruel than anger? What is more affectionate to others than man? Yet what is more savage against them than anger? Mankind is born for mutual assistance, anger for mutual ruin.”
“No plague has cost the human race more dear: you will see slaughterings and poisonings, accusations and counter-accusations, sacking of cities, ruin of whole peoples, the persons of princes sold into slavery by auction, torches applied to roofs, and fires not merely confined within city-walls but making whole tracts of country glow with hostile flame.”