Emily Dickinson on anger

Parting is all we know of heaven and all we need to know of hell.

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul⁠—and sings the tunes without the words⁠—and never stops at all.

A word is dead when it is said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day.

Anybody can become angry⁠—that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way⁠—that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.

Aristotle384–322 BC

I was angry with my friend I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow.

William Blake1757–1827A Poison Tree (1794), Songs of Experience (1794), A Poison Tree, st. 1In context

• Friendship

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.

Gautama Buddha501–501 BC