Nothing is improved by anger, unless it be the arch of a cat's back. A man with his back up is spoiling his figure. People look none the handsomer for being red in the face. It takes a great deal out of a man to get into a towering rage; it is almost as unhealthy as having a fit. . . . Whatever wrong I suffer, it can not do me half so much hurt as being angry about it.
Interpretation
Anger does not improve situations and can harm the person feeling it more than the situation itself.
In this quote, Charles Spurgeon warns against the destructive nature of anger, suggesting that allowing oneself to become angry not only fails to remedy any wrongs but also deteriorates one's well-being. Spurgeon uses vivid imagery to convey that anger not only affects one's outward appearance but can also drain emotional and physical energy, ultimately asserting that the negative impact of anger is far greater than the initial issue that triggered it.
In practice
In a professional setting when discussing conflict resolution.
Amusement should be used to do us good “like a medicine”: it must never be used as the food of the man...Many have had all holy thoughts and gracious resolutions stamped out by perpetual trifling. Pleasure so called is the murderer of thought. This is the age of excessive amusement: everybody craves for it, like a babe for its rattle.
When you see no present advantage, walk by faith and not by sight. Do God the honor to trust Him when it comes to matters of loss for the sake of principle.
It is far easier to fight with sin in public than to pray against it in private.
You will never glory in God till first of all God has killed your glorying in yourself.
After faith comes repentance, or, rather, repentance is faith's twin brother and is born at the same time.
["All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant."] The original Hebrew word that has been translated "paths" means "well-worn roads' or "wheel tracks," such ruts as wagons make when they go down our green roads in wet weather and sink in up to the axles. God's ways are at times like heavy wagon tracks that cut deep into our souls, yet all of them are merciful.
Our most emotionally active life is lived in our dreams, and our cells renew themselves most industriously in sleep. We reach highest in meditation, and farthest in prayer. In stillness every human being is great; he is free from the experience of hostility; he is a poet, and most like an angel.
The more observing ones may have seen, but discerning people are usually discreet and often kind, for we usually bleed a little before we begin to discern.
True security lies in the unrestrained embrace of insecurity - in the recognition that we never really stand on solid ground, and never can.
Lucy went first, biting her lip and trying not to say all the things she thought of saying to Susan. But she forgot them when she fixed her eyes on Aslan.
All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed.
Days are expensive. When you spend a day you have one less day to spend. So make sure you spend each one wisely.
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