Imagine your anger to be a kind of wild beast, because it has ferocious teeth and claws, and if you don't tame it, it will devastate all things even corrupting the soul.
Interpretation
Anger can be destructive if left uncontrolled, leading to harm and corruption.
This quote by Saint John Chrysostom uses the metaphor of anger as a wild beast to illustrate how powerful and harmful uncontrolled anger can be. If not tamed, anger can cause significant destruction, not only affecting external circumstances but also corrupting one's inner self, potentially leading to a loss of integrity and peace.
In practice
In a discussion about emotional intelligence, you might say this quote to emphasize the importance of managing one's anger.
No one has ever been accused for not providing ornaments, but for those who neglect their neighbour a hell awaits with an inextinguishable fire and torment in the company of the demons. Do not, therefore, adorn the church and ignore your afflicted brother, for he is the most precious temple of all.
It is simply impossible to lead, without the aid of prayer, a virtuous life.
When we teach our children to be good, to be gentle, to be forgiving (all these are attributes of God), to be generous, to love their follow men, to regard this present age as nothing, we instill virtue in their souls, and reveal the image of God within them.
Abba Moses asked Abba Sylvanus, Can a person lay a new foundation every day? The old man replied, If you work hard, you can lay a new foundation every moment. Abba Pimen said, To throw yourself before God, not to measure your progress, to leave behind all self-will; these are the instruments for the work of the soul. The desire to rule is the mother of heresies.
I hear no one boast, that he hath a knowledge of the Scriptures, but that he owneth a Bible written in golden characters. And tell me then, what profiteth this? The Holy Scriptures were not given to us that we should enclose them in books, but that we should engrave them upon our hearts.
Prayer should be the means by which I, at all times, receive all that I need, and, for this reason, be my daily refuge, my daily consolation, my daily joy, my source of rich and inexhaustible joy in life.
The only thing over which you have complete right of control at all times is your mental attitude.
For the person who has learned to let go and let be, nothing can ever get in the way again.
Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another.
When I have clarified and exhausted a subject, then I turn away from it, in order to go into darkness again.
The stars of eternal truth and right have always shone in the firmament of human understanding. The process of bringing them down to earth, remolding them into practical forms, imbuing them with vitality, and then making use of them, has been a long one.
When the sacredness of one's word is matched in the attributes of his character throughout, all that constitutes a man, then we find that there is something in a man's life greater than his occupation or his achievements; grander than acquisition or wealth; higher than genius; more enduring than fame.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.