Plain
Seneca — The Senator

Some people might fool themselves into thinking anger can be useful in certain situations. We need to show them what anger really is — wild and insane madness. Let's give anger back all the things that belong to it: torture racks, ropes, dungeons, and crosses. Fires lit around buried bodies. Hooks that drag both the living and the dead. Every kind of chain and punishment. Cut-off limbs, branded foreheads, pits full of wild animals. Picture anger standing among all these tools of hers, growling in a way that fills you with dread. She is more horrible than any of the methods she uses to unleash her rage.

On Anger, Book 3, Section 3 Book 3 · 12 of 121
Facing Hardship Calm Your Mind
Seneca — The Senator Original

Lest it should delude any one into thinking that on certain occasions and in certain positions it may be useful, we must show its unbridled and frenzied madness, we must restore to it its attributes, the rack, the cord, the dungeon, and the cross, the fires lighted round men’s buried bodies, the hook[1] that drags both living men and corpses, the different kinds of fetters, and of punishments, the mutilations of limbs, the branding of the forehead, the dens of savage beasts. Anger should be represented as standing among these her instruments, growling in an ominous and terrible fashion, herself more shocking than any of the means by which she gives vent to her fury.

On Anger, Book 3, Section 3 Book 3 · 12 of 121
Seneca — The Senator

When a sick man gets a sudden burst of strength from his illness, that strength doesn't last and isn't healthy. It's only strong enough to destroy itself. So don't think I'm wasting time attacking anger as if everyone already agrees it's bad. There's actually a famous philosopher who thinks anger has its uses. He says it gives us energy for battles, for handling business, and for anything that needs to be done with passion.

On Anger, Book 3, Section 3 Book 3 · 11 of 121
Calm Your Mind Human Nature
Seneca — The Senator Original

The strength which a sick man owes to a paroxysm of disease is neither lasting nor wholesome, and is strong only to its own destruction. You need not, therefore, imagine that I am wasting time over a useless task in defaming anger, as though men had not made up their minds about it, when there is some one, and he, too, an illustrious philosopher, who assigns it services to perform, and speaks of it as useful and supplying energy for battles, for the management of business, and indeed for everything which requires to be conducted with spirit.

On Anger, Book 3, Section 3 Book 3 · 11 of 121
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Ancient philosophy, in plain English.

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