Study Edition · Essay 13
Of Anger
Source: The Holy State (1642), Book III, Chapter VIII (1841 ed.), from the Internet Archive scan. Editor's footnote omitted. Archaic verb forms modernized; vocabulary kept and glossed.
Fuller was famous for his wit, and this short essay is full of it. He begins by defending anger as a healthy part of the soul, then gives six practical rules for keeping it in bounds. Each rule is illustrated with a striking comparison drawn from the Bible, geography, or daily life. “Thou/thee/thy” have been modernized to “you/your” along with their verb forms.
28 sentences: 6 simple, 13 moderate, 9 complex. Hover a number for its paraphrase; click it for the full note.
Key Vocabulary
- sinewa tendon; (figuratively) a source of strength
- maimedcrippled; injured
- halt(old verb) to limp
- temporalworldly; concerning this life
- appeasedcalmed down; satisfied
- amendscompensation for a wrong
- venialminor and forgivable (of a sin or fault)
- combustionuproar; burning commotion
- cock-boata small rowing boat
- beacona warning fire lit on a hilltop
- torrid zonethe hot tropical regions of the earth
- irrevocableimpossible to undo
- bemoanto lament; express sorrow over
- recompenseto make up for; to repay
- mannathe food God sent the Israelites in the desert
- putrefyto rot
- antipodespeople (or places) on the opposite side of the earth
- deposeto remove from power; to put down
- chapto crack open (as skin does in cold)
The Essay
Anger is one of the sinews of the soul: he that wants it has a maimed mind, and, with Jacob sinew-shrunk in the hollow of his thigh, must needs halt.1 Nor is it good to converse with such as cannot be angry, and, with the Caspian Sea, never ebb nor flow.2 This anger is either heavenly, when one is offended for God; or hellish, when offended with God and goodness; or earthly, in temporal matters.3 Which earthly anger (whereof we treat) may also be hellish, if for no cause, no great cause, too hot, or too long.4
Maxim I
Do not be angry with any without a cause.5 If you are, you must not only, as the proverb says, be appeased without amends, (having neither cost nor damage given you,) but, as our Saviour says, be in danger of the judgment. (Matt. v. 22.)6
Maxim II
Do not be mortally angry with any for a venial fault.7 He will make a strange combustion in the state of his soul, who, at the landing of every cock-boat, sets the beacons on fire.8 To be angry for every toy, debases the worth of your anger; for he who will be angry for any thing, will be angry for nothing.9
Maxim III
Do not let your anger be so hot, but that the most torrid zone thereof may be habitable.10 Do not frighten people from your presence with the terror of your intolerable impatience.11 Some men, like a tiled house, are long before they take fire; but, once on flame, there is no coming near to quench them.12
Maxim IV
Take heed of doing irrevocable acts in your passion.13 As the revealing of secrets, which makes you a bankrupt for society ever after.14 Neither do such things which, done once, are done for ever, so that no bemoaning can amend them.15 Samson's hair grew again, but not his eyes.16 Time may restore some losses, others are never to be repaired.17 Wherefore, in your rage, make no Persian decree which cannot be reversed or repealed; but rather Polonian laws, which (they say) last but three days.18 Do not in an instant what an age cannot recompense.19
Maxim V
Anger kept till the next morning, with manna, putrefies and corrupts.20 Save that manna did not corrupt at all, (and anger most of all,) kept the next sabbath. (Exod. xvi. 24.)21 St. Paul says, “Let not the sun go down on your wrath;” (Ephes. iv. 26;) to carry news, to the antipodes in another world, of your revengeful nature.22 Yet let us take the apostle's meaning, rather than his words,—with all possible speed to depose our passion; not understanding him so literally that we may take leave to be angry till sunset; then might our wrath lengthen with the days; and men in Greenland, where day lasts above a quarter of a year, have plentiful scope of revenge.23 And as the English, by command from William the Conqueror, always raked up their fire, and put out their candles, when the curfew-bell was rung, let us then also quench all sparks of anger and heat of passion.24
Maxim VI
He that keeps anger long in his bosom gives place to the devil. (Ephes. iv. 27.)25 And why should we make room for him, who will crowd in too fast of himself?26 Heat of passion makes our souls chap, and the devil creeps in at the crannies; yea, a furious man in his fits may seem possessed with a devil,—foams, fumes, tears himself; is deaf and dumb, in effect, to hear or speak reason; sometimes wallows, stares, stamps, with fiery eyes and flaming cheeks.27 Had Narcissus himself seen his own face when he had been angry, he could never have fallen in love with himself.28
Sentence Notes
In plain English: Anger is one of the soul's tendons: a person without any anger has a crippled mind, and like Jacob, whose thigh tendon was shrunk, he is bound to limp.
Why this phrase is worth keeping: A surprising defence of anger: it is part of what makes the soul strong, not a defect.
Reference & context: Biblical: Genesis 32:24–32. Jacob wrestled all night with a mysterious stranger, who touched the hollow of his thigh, and Jacob limped afterwards.
Modernized: hath → has
In plain English: And it's not good to spend time with people who can never get angry, who, like the Caspian Sea, never have any tides.
Why this phrase is worth keeping: A clever image for emotional flatness: a person without tides.
Reference & context: Geography: the Caspian is a landlocked sea and has almost no tide.
In plain English: Anger comes in three kinds: heavenly, when you are angry on God's behalf; hellish, when you are angry at God and goodness; and earthly, about everyday matters.
In plain English: And earthly anger, the subject of this essay, can also become hellish if it has no reason, too small a reason, or if it is too fierce or lasts too long.
Reference & context: Structure: this sentence lists the four faults that the maxims below address in turn.
In plain English: Don't be angry with anyone without a reason.
Modernized: Be not → Do not be
In plain English: If you are, then as the proverb says you'll have to calm down without any compensation (since no one actually cost or harmed you); and, as Jesus says, you'll be in danger of God's judgement.
Reference & context: Proverb: “He that is angry without cause shall be pleased without amends.” Biblical: Matthew 5:22, “whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.”
Modernized: If thou beest → If you are; thou → you; saith → says; thee → you; saith → says
In plain English: Don't be furiously angry with anyone over a small fault.
Reference & context: Theology: Catholic teaching divides sins into “mortal” (deadly) and “venial” (forgivable). Fuller borrows the pair for anger.
Modernized: Be not → Do not be
In plain English: Someone who lights all the warning beacons every time a little rowing boat lands will throw his soul into chaos.
Reference & context: Historical: England had a chain of hilltop beacons, famously lit in 1588 to warn of the Spanish Armada. Lighting them for a rowing boat is a wild overreaction.
In plain English: Getting angry over every trifle cheapens your anger. Anyone who will get angry about anything will end up getting angry about nothing.
Why this phrase is worth keeping: A neat play on “anything” and “nothing”: anger that is spent on everything loses all its value.
Modernized: thy → your
In plain English: Don't let your anger get so hot that even its hottest part becomes unlivable for others.
Why this phrase is worth keeping: A witty map of temper: even your fiercest anger should leave room for others to survive.
Reference & context: Geography: ancient and medieval geographers believed the “torrid zone” around the equator was too hot for human life.
Modernized: Let not thy → Do not let your
In plain English: Don't scare people away from you with your unbearable bad temper.
Modernized: Fright not → Do not frighten; thy → your; thy → your
In plain English: Some people, like a house with a tiled roof, take a long time to catch fire; but once they are burning, nobody can get close enough to put them out.
Reference & context: Everyday life: tiled roofs resisted fire better than thatch, but a burning tiled house was very hard to put out.
In plain English: Be careful not to do anything irreversible while you're angry.
Modernized: thy → your
In plain English: For example, revealing secrets, which ruins your credit with people forever.
Reference & context: A financial metaphor: trust is like credit, and once it is spent you are “bankrupt.”
Modernized: thee → you
In plain English: And don't do things that, once done, can never be undone, so that no amount of regret can repair them.
In plain English: Samson's hair grew back, but his eyes did not.
Why this phrase is worth keeping: Eight words that show the difference between losses that heal and losses that don't.
Reference & context: Biblical: Judges 16. After Delilah had Samson's hair cut, the Philistines blinded him. His hair (and strength) returned; his sight never did.
In plain English: Time can make up for some losses, but others can never be repaired.
In plain English: So when you are angry, don't make decisions like Persian laws that can never be reversed; make them like Polish laws, which supposedly last only three days.
Reference & context: Biblical: “the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not” (Daniel 6:8; Esther 1:19). Polish parliamentary resolutions were proverbial for not lasting.
Modernized: thy → your
In plain English: Don't do in a moment what a lifetime can't make up for.
Why this phrase is worth keeping: A whole philosophy of self-control in nine words, with the moment set against the age.
In plain English: Anger kept overnight goes rotten and putrid, like the manna in the desert.
Reference & context: Biblical: Exodus 16:20. The Israelites were told not to keep manna overnight; those who did found it “bred worms, and stank.”
Modernized: doth putrefy and corrupt → putrefies and corrupts
In plain English: The one difference: manna kept over the Sabbath didn't rot at all, while anger kept over a holy day rots worst of all.
Reference & context: Biblical: Exodus 16:24. Manna gathered on Friday for the Sabbath miraculously stayed fresh.
Modernized: corrupted not → did not corrupt
In plain English: St. Paul says, “Don't let the sun go down while you're still angry,” as if the setting sun would carry news of your vengeful nature to the people on the other side of the world.
Reference & context: Biblical: Ephesians 4:26. Fuller's joke imagines the sun as a messenger travelling round the globe.
Modernized: saith → says; thy → your
In plain English: But let's follow what the apostle meant, not just his words: put down our anger as fast as possible. We shouldn't take him so literally that we think we may stay angry until sunset; otherwise our anger would grow longer with the summer days, and people in Greenland, where the day lasts more than three months, would have plenty of time for revenge.
Why this phrase is worth keeping: A comic reductio ad absurdum: reading the rule too literally makes it ridiculous.
Reference & context: Geography: in the Arctic summer the sun does not set for weeks or months.
In plain English: And just as the English, on William the Conqueror's orders, covered their fires and blew out their candles when the curfew bell rang, let us also put out every spark of anger.
Reference & context: Historical: “curfew” comes from French couvre-feu, “cover fire.” Tradition credits William I (reigned 1066–1087) with ordering fires covered at the evening bell.
In plain English: Whoever holds on to anger for a long time makes room for the devil.
Reference & context: Biblical: Ephesians 4:27, “Neither give place to the devil.”
Modernized: giveth → gives
In plain English: And why make room for the devil, when he'll push his way in fast enough without our help?
In plain English: The heat of anger makes our souls crack, like skin in harsh weather, and the devil creeps in through the cracks. Indeed, a furious man in a rage can look possessed: he foams at the mouth, fumes, tears at himself, is deaf to reason and unable to speak it, and sometimes rolls about, stares and stamps with blazing eyes and red cheeks.
Reference & context: Biblical: the description echoes the possessed boy in Mark 9:17–26, who foams, gnashes his teeth and is thrown to the ground.
Modernized: makes our souls to chap → makes our souls chap
In plain English: If even Narcissus had seen his own face while angry, he could never have fallen in love with himself.
Why this phrase is worth keeping: A brilliant final joke: anger is so ugly that it could cure even the world's most famous vanity.
Reference & context: Mythology: Ovid, Metamorphoses Book III. The beautiful youth Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection in a pool and wasted away.
Fun Fact
Fuller was famous for an extraordinary memory. A popular story claims he once walked the length of Cheapside, one of London's busiest shopping streets, and then recited every shop sign in order, forwards and backwards. He was also known for his good temper. He published this essay in 1642, the year the English Civil War broke out, and he spent the war as a royalist chaplain preaching moderation to both sides. Neither side was entirely pleased, which suggests he followed his own rules about anger.