On the greatness of gentleness

 

Do you see what a great thing gentleness is?  More than any vehemence, it pricks our hearts, inflicts a keener wound.  For in the case of bodies which have become callous, the man that strikes upon them does not affect the sense so powerfully, but if he first mollify them and make them tender, then he pierces them effectually.  But that which softens is not wrath, not vehement accusation, not personal abuse; it is gentleness.