Anger

Every now and then comes a particularly dangerous wave that breaks viciously into the rock. It is called 'The Rage.' That's me.
~ William Maxwell Aitken (Lord Beaverbrook), in Beaverbrook: A Study in Power and Frustration (1956).

Men often make up in wrath what they want in reason.
~ William Rounseville (W.R.) Alger

Fire and furies! what the blazes?
~ William Edmondstoune (W.E.) Aytoun, from The Book of Ballads (1845). My Wife's Cousin

When you expect someone to provoke you, to be hostile, to be difficult, you are more likely to become angry in interaction with that person than when you have no particular prior expectations.
~ William D. Backus, Telling the Truth to Troubled People (1985).

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 Blake, from Songs of Experience (1794). A Poison Tree

When I am angry, I can be a Thunderbird.
~ Pieter Willem (P.W.) Botha, quoted in BBC News (30 October 1998). P W Botha: The 'Great Crocodile'

And wrath has left its scar -- that fire of hell
Has left its frightful scar upon my soul.
~ William Cullen Bryant, from The Fountain, and Other Poems (1842). The Future Life

Love is the remedy for anger.
~ William Ellery Channing (D.D.), in Dr. Channing's Note-book (1887). Love

[A]nger is a very appropriate and necessary response to an injustice. ... But stand back now; the truth, clearly spoken, is always your best weapon. Calmly spoken, it can burn a hole through the hardest heart.
~ Bill Chickering, from Healing an Angry Heart: Finding Solace in a Hostile World (1998).

When you see uncaring people in high places, everybody should be mad as hell.
~ Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., Interview in PBS TV NOW with Bill Moyers (5 March 2004).

Fill'd with fury, rapt, inspired.
~ William Collins, from Odes on Several Descriptive and Allegoric Subjects (1746). The Passions: An Ode to Music

A little disdain is not amiss; a little scorn is alluring.
~ William Congreve, The Way of the World (1700). Act III, scene v

Heaven has no rage, like love to hatred turned,
Nor hell a fury, like a woman scorned.
~ William Congreve, The Mourning Bride (1697). Act III, scene i

It chills my blood to hear the blest Supreme
Rudely appealed to on each trifling theme.
~ William Cowper

Anger is blood, pour'd and perplex'd into a froth;
But malice is the wisdom of our wrath.
~ Sir William Davenant, The Just Italian (1630).

When we are angry about something, do we carefully listen to an explanation?
~ William E. Diehl, The Monday Connection (1991).

Don't get mad. Get smart.
~ William James "Willie" Dixon, I Am the Blues: The Willie Dixon Story (1989).

Expressing anger is a form of public littering.
~ Willard "Will" Gaylin

Hot heads and cold hearts never solved anything.
~ Billy Graham, Speech at Clinton TN (December 1958).

Never underestimate anger's destructive power.
~ Billy Graham, The Journey: How To Live By Faith In An Uncertain World (2006).

Temper is a quality that at a critical moment brings out the best in steel and the worst in people.
~ William P. Grohse

He who blows his stack adds to the world's pollution.
~ Will Henry (Henry Wilson Allen), quoted in The Reader's Digest, Volume 98 (1971).

I've tried both plans, anger and poise, and I like poise better.
~ (Col.) William C. Hunter, Evening Round-up: More Good Stuff Like Pep (1915). Anger: It's a Temporary Mental Derangement

For fear in wrath you play the fool,
Take four-and-twenty hours to cool.
~ William Hutton, from Poems, chiefly tales (1804). Maxims

Count ten before venting your anger, and its occasion seems ridiculous.
~ William James, The Principles of Psychology (1890). Vol. 2. Chapter XXV: The Emotions

Do not judge in anger, for, though the anger passes, the judgment remains!
~ William Q. Judge, in The Path (May 1896).

An angry player can't argue with the back of an umpire who is walking away.
~ William J. "Bill" Klem

That was not me that night. I was going through so much stress. ... I see on the videotape (that) I was out of my mind. I had to let anger out and it came out that way.
~ William Ligue, Jr. (on attacking Kansas City Royals first-base coach Tom Gamboa during the Sox-Royals game held September 19), The Daily Southtown (Telephone interview; 31 October 2002). 'I disgraced Chicago': Ligue apologizes for Comiskey attack

Anger begins as an inner twinge. We sense something long before it blossoms (explodes?) into an emotional tirade. If we listen to this twinge -- and follow its advice -- the emotional outburst (or in burst) is not needed.
~ Peter McWilliams, Life 101: Everything We Wished We Had Learned about Life in School--But Didn't (August 1994).

Guilt is anger directed at ourselves -- at what we did or did not do. Resentment is anger directed at others -- at what they did or did not do.
~ Peter McWilliams, Life 101: Everything We Wished We Had Learned about Life in School--But Didn't (August 1994).

The growth of wisdom may be gauged accurately by the decline of ill-temper.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

[A]ll anger is not sinful; I suppose, because some degree of it, and upon some occasions, is inevitable.
~ William Paley, The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy (1785). Book III. Part II. Chapter VII: Anger

Who can refute a sneer?
~ William Paley, The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy (1785). Book V. Chapter IX: Of Reverencing the Deity

Not to be provoked is best; but if moved, never correct till the fume is spent; for every stroke our fury strikes, is sure to hit ourselves at last.
~ William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude (1693). Part I. Moderation

When boys feel disconnected (from adequate love and support) and afraid of being shamed, when they harden themselves and then put on the macho mask, the one emotion they feel it's acceptable to show, and thus the only emotion they will show, is anger.
~ William S. Pollack, Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood (1998).

Get out of my sight, or I'll knock you down.
~ William B. Rhodes, Bombastes Furioso (1810). Act I, scene i

I've never really had problems controlling my temper. I am an intense guy on the football field, and sometimes I get carried away. I got carried away two days ago. I'm just going to make the situation right from this point forward. Can I move forward? I have no choice.
~ Bill Romanowski (on punching teammate Marcus Williams in the face, breaking his left orbital bone and chipping his tooth), Remarks at News Conference, Oakland Raiders headquarters in Alameda CA (26 August 2003).

Nothing makes a man, or a body of men, as mad as the truth. If there is no truth in it, they laugh it off.
~ Will Rogers

People who fly into a rage always make a bad landing.
~ Will Rogers

When you give a lesson in meanness to a person, don't be surprised if they learn their lesson.
~ Will Rogers

And where two waging fires meet together
They do consume the thing that feeds their fury.
Though little fire grows great with little wind,
Yet extreme gusts will blow out fire and all.
~ William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew. Act II, scene i

Anger is like
A full-hot horse, who being allow'd his way,
Self-mettle tires him.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VIII. Act I, scene i

Anger's my meat; I sup upon myself,
And so shall starve with feeding.
~ William Shakespeare, Coriolanus. Act IV, scene ii

Come not within the measure of my wrath.
~ William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Act V, scene iv

Do not plunge thyself too far in anger.
~ William Shakespeare, All's Well that Ends Well

Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot
That it do singe yourself. We may outrun
By violent swiftness that which we run at,
And lose by over-running.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VIII. Act I, scene i

I am one, my liege,
Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world
Have so incens'd, that I am reckless what
I do, to spite the world.
~ William Shakespeare, Macbeth. Act III, scene i

If I can catch him once upon the hip,
I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.
~ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

[M]en in rage strike those that wish them best.
~ William Shakespeare, Othello. Act II, scene iii

My patience to his fury, and am arm'd
To suffer, with a quietness of spirit,
The very tyranny and rage of his.
~ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice. Act IV, scene i

Now he'll outstare the lightning. To be furious, is to be frighted out of fear.
~ William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra. Act III, scene xi

O! let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven;
Keep me in temper; I would not be mad!
~ William Shakespeare, King Lear

O! what a deal of scorn looks beautiful
In the contempt and anger of his lip.
~ William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night. Act III, scene i

Off with his head!
~ William Shakespeare, King Richard III. Act III, scene iv

[T]he blood more stirs
To rouse a lion than to start a hare!
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry IV. Part I. Act I, scene iii

The brain may devise laws for the blood, but a hot temper leaps o'er a cold decree.
~ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice. Act I, scene ii

To be furious
Is to be frightened out of fear.
~ William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra. Act III, scene xiii

To be in anger is impiety;
But who is man that is not angry?
~ William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens

Unhand me, gentlemen,
By heaven! I'll make a ghost of him that lets me.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act I, scene iv

When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul
Lends the tongue vows.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act I, scene iii

Think, when you are enraged at any one, what would probably become your sentiments should he should die during the dispute.
~ William Shenstone, in Works in Verse and Prose, Vol. II (1764). Essays on Men, Manners, and Things. Of Men and Manners

I'm always amazed when a pitcher becomes angry at a hitter for hitting a home run off him. When I strike out, I don't get angry at the pitcher, I get angry at myself. I would think that if a pitcher threw up a home run ball, he should be angry at himself.
~ Wilver Dornel "Willie" Stargell

Ah me! we wound where we never intended to strike; we create anger where we never meant harm; and these thoughts are the thorns in our Cushion.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, Roundabout Papers (1863). Thorns in the Cushion

Flying off the handle sometimes causes hammers and humans to lose their heads, as well as their effectiveness.
~ William Arthur Ward

It is wise to direct your anger toward problems -- not people; to focus your energies on answers -- not excuses.
~ William Arthur Ward

Raised voices lower esteem. Hot tempers cool friendships. Loose tongues stretch truth. Swelled heads shrink influence. Sharp words dull respect.
~ William Arthur Ward, from Thoughts of a Christian Optimist: The Words of William Arthur Ward (1968).

Righteous indignation is often nothing more than self-righteous irritation.
~ William Arthur Ward, from Thoughts of a Christian Optimist: The Words of William Arthur Ward (1968).

Muffle your rage. Get smart instead of muscular.
~ Roy Wilkins

You can take the anger that you feel and make it productive rather than raging. You can use it as a catalyst for addressing wrong with great energy and power.
~ Angel Kyodo Williams, Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living with Fearlessness and Grace (2000).

There's only one way to become a hitter. Go up to the plate and get mad. Get mad at yourself and mad at the pitcher.
~ Theodore Samuel ("Ted") Williams

There is no one quite as angry as someone who has just lost a lot of money.
~ David Williamson

Angry people cannot create a peaceful planet.
~ Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of a Course in Miracles (1992).

One should not lose one's temper unless one is certain of getting more and more angry to the end.
~ William Butler Yeats, in Memoirs. Autobiography -- First Draft Journal (1972).