31. Avoidance of Anger

It is restraint that restrains rage when it can injure.
If it cannot harm, what does restraint really matter?

Wrath is wrong even when it cannot cause injury,
but when it can, there is nothing more evil.

Forget anger toward all who have offended you,
for it gives rise to teeming troubles.

Anger kills the face's smile and the heart's joy.
Does there exist a greater enemy than one's own anger?

If a man be his own guard, let him guard himself against rage.
Left unguarded, his own wrath will annihilate him.

Anger's fire engulfs all who draw near it,
burning even friends and family who risk rescue.

As a man trying to strike the ground with his hand can hardly fail,
just as surely will one who treasures his temper be destroyed. 

Though others inflict wrongs as painful as flaming torches, 
it is good if a man can refrain from inflammatory tantrums.

If hostile thoughts do not invade his mind,
all his other thoughts may swiftly manifest.

As men who have died resemble the dead,
so men who have renounced rage resemble renunciates.