Beware of him that is slow to anger for when it is long coming, it is the stronger when it comes, and the longer kept. Abused patience turns to fury.

Quarles’s warning turns a common moral ideal—patience and slowness to anger—into a caution about human limits. The person who rarely erupts may appear safe to provoke, but restraint can function like pressure building in a sealed vessel: the longer anger is suppressed, the more forceful it may become when finally released. The second sentence sharpens the point ethically and psychologically: patience is not infinite, and repeated mistreatment can transform a virtue into a destructive passion. The quote thus advises both self-governance (do not store up resentment) and social prudence (do not exploit the forbearing), anticipating later reflections on “the last straw” and the volatility of long-endured injustice.