Wisdom, Number 18

Too much anger breeds terror, and kindness at the wrong moment strips away your authority. Don't be so harsh that people grow sick of you, nor so soft that they grow bold against you. Firmness and gentleness together are best, like the surgeon who cuts, then applies the healing balm. The wise take neither the path of harshness nor of weakness that would diminish their worth. They neither set themselves above others, nor surrender all at once to humiliation. A shepherd said to his father: wise one, teach me one piece of seasoned advice. He replied: be a good and decent man, but not so much that the sharp-toothed wolf grows insolent.