Tuesday, June 26, 2012

The worthiest discipline we can put ourselves to


Addison writes of Lord Somers as follows—'One of the greatest souls now in the world is the most subject by nature to anger—and yet so famous for a conquest of himself this way that he is the known example when you talk of temper and command of a man's self.’ To contain the spirit of anger is the worthiest discipline we can put ourselves to. When a man has made any progress this way, a frivolous fellow in a passion is to him as contemptible as a froward child. It ought to be the study of every man for his own quiet and peace. When he stands combustible and ready to flame upon everything that touches him, life is as unpleasant to himself as it is to all about him.

- ATreatise on Temper—its Use and Abuse

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