Anger Quote by Beth Bagley
““The language I learned was pretty, full of passivity and silence. I had no proper language for the issues of blood and anger, yet much of what went on when I was a child made me angry. There were no words a nice girl could use to describe anger; her options were to remain silent or to use indiscreet language, the kind that curls in a room like smoke and soon disappears. We girls were taught to speak safely and to bandage our anger with polite, pretty words. We might talk about the anger only in questions and sighs, unable to curse, yell or break windows in the beautiful garden.””
About This Quote
Girls are taught to suppress anger with polite language, leading to silence instead of direct expression.
In simple terms: Polite words silence anger.
Key Takeaway
Encourage honest emotional expression.
Themes
gender
language
emotional suppression
socialization
Mood
reflective
somber
Type
social critique
personal narrative
When to use this quote
- family upbringing
- education
- personal relationships
Key Concepts
feminist critique
psychology
communication studies
Questions to Reflect On
- What language could replace “polite” anger?
- How does silence affect mental health?
A Different Perspective
Changing deep‑seated social norms is challenging.
![“Language [can] be expressed . . . by movements of the hands and face just as well as by the small, sound-generating movements of the throat and mouth. Then the first criterion for language that I had learned as a student—it is spoken and heard—was wrong; and, more important, language did not…” quote by Harlan Lane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/5d1/harlan-lane-110195_ability_language-can-be-expressed-by-movements-o_1734575.jpg)
![“Where there are kashays (anger-pride-deceit-greed), there is worldly life. As long as anger-pride-deceit-greed exist; one is a sansaari [living a worldly life] regardless of whether one is an ascetic or a family man. And where anger-pride-deceit-greed are absent, one is regarded as being asansaari…” quote by Dada Bhagwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/7ec/dada-bhagwan-31_anger_where-there-are-kashays-anger-pride-dece_5756.jpg)