Anger can arrive like a sudden blaze – but it can also carry messages about our truth, our boundaries, and what needs to change. Poet and activist Audre Lorde reminds us that anger is not empty noise but charged insight, “Anger is loaded with information and energy.” This page gathers wisdom on how to soften, redirect, and grow from that energy, instead of letting it burn us up.

You can’t catch water with a fist. ~ JoJo Jensen, Dirt Farmer Wisdom (2002)

In the face of anger, the best response is a burst of tenderness. ~ Catherine Ingram

If you are patient in one moment of anger you will avoid one hundred days of sorrow. ~ Ancient Proverb

Anger is like milk, it should not be kept too long. ~ Phyllis Bottome

Grab the broom of anger and drive off the beast of fear. ~ Zora Neale Hurston

Bad temper is its own safety valve. He who can bark does not bite. ~ Agatha Christie

Patience in a moment of anger can save you a thousand days of pain. ~ Chinese Proverb

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

If a small thing has the power to make you angry, does that not indicate something about your size? ~ Sydney J. Harris

To be angry is to revenge the faults of others upon ourselves. ~ Alexander Pope

He who angers you conquers you. ~ Elizabeth Kenny

I don’t want to waste time being angry at someone I love. ~ Brad Pitt

It takes two flints to make a fire. ~ Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were. ~ Cherie Carter-Scott