A thinking person should run away from anger like he would run away from fire. Just like fire consumes and destroys everything, anger destroys everything. Just like fire can destroy a valuable item in seconds, anger can cause the mitzvos a person has done to be lost. In truth, anger is worse than fire; while fire destroys a tangible item, anger burns the neshamah. Furthermore, damages from a fire can be reimbursed monetarily, whereas the losses from anger can only be regained through teshuvah. (ibid., 6)
