a soft answer turneth away wrath

Responding to someone in a calm, humble manner will help assuage their anger or avoid any further trouble. The expression originated in the Bible, in Proverbs 15:1: "A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger." I know you're really upset over these accusations, but losing your temper with them now will only ensure you lose your job. Remember—a soft answer turneth away wrath. With two parents who were constantly at each others' throats—and all too quick to snap at us as well—I grew up with the knowledge that a soft answer turneth away wrath.
See also: answer, away, soft, turneth, wrath

soft answer turneth away wrath

Prov. If you speak softly and meekly to someone who is angry with you, that person will calm down. (Biblical.) It won't do any good for you to yell at John because he yelled at you. Remember that a soft answer turneth away wrath.
See also: answer, away, soft, turneth, wrath
References in classic literature ?
It establisheth faith; it kindleth charity; the outward peace of the church, distilleth into peace of conscience; and it turneth the labors of writing, and reading of controversies, into treaties of mortification and devotion.
Beyond the line of blue - The boundary of the star Which turneth at the view Of thy barrier and thy bar - Of the barrier overgone By the comets who were cast From their pride, and from their throne To be drudges till the last - To be carriers of fire(The red fire of their heart) With speed that may not tire And with pain that shall not part -
A soft answer turneth away wrath, and I suppressed my own feelings accordingly when it was my turn to reply.
"Methinks thou art right," quoth Robin, "and, contrariwise, that when we kiss a pleasure that appeareth gay it turneth foul to us; is it not so, Little John?
An' so it is, Miss Grey, "a soft answer turneth away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger." It isn't only in them you speak to, but in yourself.'
1) Many wonders there be, but naught more wondrous than man; Over the surging sea, with a whitening south wind wan, Through the foam of the firth, man makes his perilous way; And the eldest of deities Earth that knows not toil nor decay Ever he furrows and scores, as his team, year in year out, With breed of the yoked horse, the ploughshare turneth about.
Girls were easier to train; they did not waste time in retaliatory conversation; they were more careful; and they were much more likely to give "the soft answer that turneth away wrath."
"When the wicked man turneth away." The strong, alien voice of the priest vibrated under the hammer-beam roof, and a loneliness unfelt before swamped their hearts, as they searched for places in the unfamiliar Church of England service.
In the same book in which John Lyly famously said that all is fair in love and war, he also wrote, 'As the best wine doth make the sharpest vinegar, so the deepest love turneth to the deadliest hate.' Luckily for us, we're all drunk in love here.
The second is from the Old Testament from Ecclesiastes: 'One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to the place where he arose The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to its circuits All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come thither they return again.'
Thus in Cambises the one figure who complains against Fortune is not a culprit but the innocent child of a man executed by the tyrannical king ("O false and fickle frowning Dame, that turneth as the winde" [line 449]).
Thus antichrist turneth the roots of the trees upward'.
Greenslet's duties included contract negotiations, editorial oversight, and what Ballou described as "the soft answer that turneth away wrath." (21) The "wrath" most often came from Scaife.
says: "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his
(44) Rhetorically positioning Parliamentarian Virchand Gandhi's subsequent response as "the soft answer which turneth away wrath," the reader was invited to share the sympathy of the Parliament audience who "applauded loudly almost every point [Mr.