[Ads-l] Quote: Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it's stored than to anything on which it's poured

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

I was asked to explore the statement in the subject line which has
been attributed to Mark Twain, Mohandas Gandhi, and Seneca.
I was unable to find substantive support for the above attributions.

The earliest close match I have located appeared in May 1955 within
the "Daily News-Post" of Monrovia, California. The creator was
anonymous.

[ref] 1955 May 16, Daily News-Post, Corrosive (Filler item), Quote
Page 4, Column 1, Monrovia, California. (Newspapers_com) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
Corrosive
Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it’s
stored than to anything on which it’s poured.
[End excerpt]

The central metaphor of this expression has a long history in the
Turkish language. A compact instance appeared in "A Dictionary of
Turkish Proverbs" with an 1863 citation:

[ref] 2012 (1993 First Printing), A Dictionary of Turkish Proverbs,
Compiled by Metin Yurtbaşı, Topic: Anger, Quote Page 17, Published by
Mehmet Başpehlivan, Excellence Publishing. (Verified with scans)
[/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
Keskin sirke küpüne/kabına zarar.
Sour vinegar harms its jar.
[A bad temper harms its possessor most!]
[End excerpt]

More information is available here.
Full https://quoteinvestigator.medium.com/eb0e103678e7
Abbrev https://quoteinvestigator.com/2023/07/12/anger-vessel/

Feedback welcome
Garson O'Toole

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