#16: On Anger (De Ira)
Quotes that resonate, from ‘How to Keep Your Cool: An Ancient Guide to Anger Management’ by Seneca, selected, translated and introduced by James Romm.
[40]
It’s an atrocity to harm one’s country, and thus to harm any citizen, for he is part of one’s country.
[41]
The parts of a thing are sacred, if the whole is deserving of reverence.
[42]
How would it be if your hands wanted to harm your feet, or your eyes to harm your hands? Just as all the limbs operate in harmony with one another, since the whole benefits from the preservation of the parts, so human beings keep from harming individuals… [S]ociety cannot be kept intact except by care and love of its constituent pieces.
[43]
We wouldn’t even eradicate vipers… that hurt us with bites and blows if we could make them tame henceforth or arrange that they wouldn’t be a danger to ourselves or to others; in the same way, we will not harm a human being because he has done wrong, but in order that he not do wrong; punishment will be addressed to the future, not the past, for it acts out of concern, not anger.