\u201cThere is no more stupefying thing than anger, nothing more bent on its own strength. If successful, none more arrogant, if foiled, none more insane\u2014since it\u2019s not driven back by weariness even in defeat, when fortune removes its adversary it turns its teeth on itself.\u201d
\n\u2014SENECA, ON ANGER, 3.1.5
\nAs the Stoics have said many times, getting angry almost never solves anything. Usually, it makes things worse. We get upset, then the other person gets upset\u2014now everyone is upset, and the problem is no closer to getting solved.
\nMany successful people will try to tell you that anger is a powerful fuel in their lives. The desire to \u201cprove them all wrong\u201d or \u201cshove it in their faces\u201d has made many a millionaire. The anger at being called fat or stupid has created fine physical specimens and brilliant minds. The anger at being rejected has motivated many to carve their own path.
\nBut that\u2019s shortsighted. Such stories ignore the pollution produced as a side effect and the wear and tear it put on the engine. It ignores what happens when that initial anger runs out\u2014and how now more and more must be generated to keep the machine going (until, eventually, the only source left is anger at oneself). \u201cHate is too great a burden to bear,\u201d Martin Luther King Jr. warned his fellow civil rights leaders in 1967, even though they had every reason to respond to hate with hate.
\nThe same is true for anger\u2014in fact, it\u2019s true for most extreme emotions. They are toxic fuel. There\u2019s plenty of it out in the world, no question, but never worth the costs that come along with it.
\nRyan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman. \u201cThe Daily Stoic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cThere is no more stupefying thing than anger, nothing more bent on its own strength. If successful, none more arrogant, if foiled, none more insane\u2014since it\u2019s not driven back by weariness even in defeat, when fortune removes its adversary it turns its teeth on itself.\u201d \u2014SENECA, ON ANGER, 3.1.5 As the Stoics have said many …<\/p>\n