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Topics · Life & Self

Wisdom about emotional regulation.

What people have learned about emotional regulation the hard way, and what the classics said about it first.

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From the library

Love comforteth like sunshine after rain.
Perfect love casteth out fear.
Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are.
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high.
I exist as I am, that is enough.
Love is anterior to life, posterior to death, initial of creation, and the exponent of breath.
A soft answer turneth away wrath.
The soft overcomes the hard; and the weak the strong.
Men at some time are masters of their fates.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
Gravity is the root of lightness; stillness, the ruler of movement.
Have more than thou showest, speak less than thou knowest.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.
Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath.
When the people do not fear what they ought to fear, that which is their great dread will come on them.
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee.
Scornful men bring a city into a snare: but wise men turn away wrath.
Who is content Needs fear no shame. Who knows to stop Incurs no blame. From danger free Long live shall he.
There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
A gift in secret pacifieth anger: and a reward in the bosom strong wrath.
Constant action overcomes cold; being still overcomes heat. Purity and stillness give the correct law to all under heaven.
How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?
The wrath of a king is as messengers of death: but a wise man will pacify it.
(To illustrate from) the case of all females:—the female always overcomes the male by her stillness. Stillness may be considered (a sort of) abasement.
He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly: and a man of wicked devices is hated.
(Those who) possessed the highest (sense of) propriety were (always seeking) to show it, and when men did not respond to it, they bared the arm and marched up to them.
He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail.
To him who holds in his hands the Great Image (of the invisible Tao), the whole world repairs. Men resort to him, and receive no hurt, but (find) rest, peace, and the feeling of ease.
The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.
The people do not fear death; to what purpose is it to (try to) frighten them with death? If the people were always in awe of death, and I could always seize those who do wrong, and put them to death, who would dare to do wrong?
Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.
The (state of) vacancy should be brought to the utmost degree, and that of stillness guarded with unwearying vigour. All things alike go through their processes of activity, and (then) we see them return (to their original state).
The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.
Let him keep his mouth closed, and shut up the portals (of his nostrils), and all his life he will be exempt from laborious exertion. Let him keep his mouth open, and (spend his breath) in the promotion of his affairs, and all his life there will be no safety for him.
It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.
To him by whom this harmony is known, (The secret of) the unchanging (Tao) is shown, And in the knowledge wisdom finds its throne. All life-increasing arts to evil turn; Where the mind makes the vital breath to burn, (False) is the strength, (and o'er it we should mourn.)
A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool’s wrath is heavier than them both.
The Tao produced One; One produced Two; Two produced Three; Three produced All things. All things leave behind them the Obscurity (out of which they have come), and go forward to embrace the Brightness (into which they have emerged), while they are harmonised by the Breath of Vacancy.
The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.
When we renounce learning we have no troubles. The (ready) 'yes,' and (flattering) 'yea;'— Small is the difference they display. But mark their issues, good and ill;— What space the gulf between shall fill? What all men fear is indeed to be feared; but how wide and without end is the range of questions (asking to be discussed)!
The desire of the righteous is only good: but the expectation of the wicked is wrath.
The excellence of a residence is in (the suitability of) the place; that of the mind is in abysmal stillness; that of associations is in their being with the virtuous; that of government is in its securing good order; that of (the conduct of) affairs is in its ability; and that of (the initiation of) any movement is in its timeliness.