"The first and best of victories is for a man to conquer himself; to be conquered by himself is, of all things, the most shameful," says Plato. Selfcontrol is at the root of all the advantages. Let a man give in to his impulses   and feelings, and from that moment he gives up his moral   freedom. A single angry word has lost many a friend. When Socrates found in himself any temper or anger, he would check it by speaking low in order to control himself. If you are conscious of being angry, keep your mouth shut so that you can hold back rising anger. Many a person has dropped dead in great anger. Fits of anger bring fits of disease. _ "Keep cool", says George Herbert, "for fierceness   makes error a fault." To be angry with a weak man is to prove that you are not strong yourself. "Anger," says Pythagoras, "brings with folly  and ends with regret." You must measure the strength of a man by the power of the feelings he conquers, not by the power of those which conquer him. Selfcontrol is man's last greatest victory. If a man lacks selfcontrol he seems to lack everything. Without it he can have no patience, no power to govern himself; he can have no selfconfidence, for he will always be controlled by his strongest feeling. If he lacks selfcontrol, the very backbone and nerve of character are lacking also. What is the correct interpretation of "Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad"?
If the gods want to kill you, they make you crazy first. If you cannot control yourself, you will become crazy. If you always lose your temper, you will soon be finished. If you are mad, you will be punished by the gods.