Heraclitus used to cry whenever he went outside and saw so many people living miserable lives — actually dying miserable deaths. He felt sorry for everyone he met who seemed happy and joyful. He had a gentle heart, but it was too soft. Really, he should have wept for himself too. Democritus was the opposite. He supposedly never appeared in public without laughing. Human activities seemed so ridiculous to him that he couldn't take any of them seriously. So where does anger fit in? Everything should either make us cry or make us laugh. A wise person won't get angry at people who do wrong. Why not? Because he knows nobody is born wise — we all have to learn. He knows that very few people in any generation actually become wise. He understands what human life is really like. No reasonable person gets angry at nature. Think about it — would you be surprised that wild bushes don't grow fruit? Would you wonder why thorns don't produce berries you can eat? Nobody gets mad when nature has a flaw.
Heraclitcus, whenever he came out of doors and beheld around him such a number of men who were living wretchedly, nay, rather perishing wretchedly, used to weep: he pitied all those who met him joyous and happy. He was of a gentle but too weak disposition; and he himself was one of those for whom he ought to have wept. Democritus, on the other hand, is said never to have appeared in public without laughing; so little did men's serious occupations appear serious to him. What room is there for anger? Everything ought either to move us to tears or to laughter. The wise man will not be angry with sinners. Why not? Because he knows that no one is born wise, but becomes so: he knows that very few wise men are produced in any age, because he thoroughly understands the circumstances of human life. Now, no sane man is angry with nature: for what should we say if a man chose to be surprised that fruit did not hang on the thickets of a forest, or to wonder at bushes and thorns not being covered with some useful berry? No one is angry when nature excuses a defect.