What does this quote mean?

“The greatest remedy for anger is delay.”

Delay interrupts the first impulse of anger and gives judgment time to test whether the perceived offence deserves the reaction it initially provoked.

Source note: On Anger, Book II, section 29.

“I wish'd the man a dinner, and sat still.”

The satirical speaker portrays restraint as refusing to escalate a literary attack, answering hostility with a comic wish that the critic’s need might be relieved.

Source note: Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot; Pope recalls Gildon’s attack and presents his own non-response in a deliberately witty, self-defending passage.

“Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.”

Speed without judgment can undermine the very goal a person is pursuing, so patience becomes part of effective action.

Source note: Act 2, Scene 3; Friar Laurence urges Romeo to move with greater care.

“The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.”

Retaliation is rejected when it would reproduce the very behavior one condemns.

Source note: Meditations 6.6; wording varies by translation.

“For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.”

Anger is not automatically justified by intensity; the verse separates human wrath from the moral outcome a person may claim to be pursuing.

Source note: James 1:20 in the King James Version, immediately following the instruction to be slow to wrath.

“Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.”

Good judgment starts by hearing more quickly than speaking or reacting, especially when anger is close to the surface.

Source note: James 1:19 in the King James Version, pairing readiness to listen with restraint in speech and anger.