Комментарий к Авот 5:11

HARD TO ANGER AND EASY TO APPEASE—THIS IS A PIOUS PERSON. But there is nobody with such a temperament that he never angers. For who was greater in humility than Moses, of whom the verse says “Moses became angry with the commanders of the army” (Numbers 31:14)—Midrash Shmuel. Greater than this is the verse “listen here, you rebels!” (Numbers 20:10), but it does not say explicitly that he was angry.

[A person who is] easy to anger and easy to appease - his gain is canceled by his loss: As the loss is greater than the gain. As what is the use of his being appeased quickly, as [long as] his anger lay in his lap, and he will [often] come to sin. And 'who will be able to fix what he has made crooked' during the time of his anger, even if he is quickly appeased.

Observe how he called the patient one, whose patience is excessive to the point that he approaches lack of feeling concerning the matter of anger, a pious man. And he called someone with the vices of the trait of anger, evil.

[A person who is] hard, etc.: But one who does not get angry at all is not found in any disposition. As who is greater for us in humility than Moshe, our teacher, - peace be upon him - and about him it is said (Numbers 31:14), "And Moshe got angry, etc.," etc. - Midrash Shmuel.

This is the textual variant that we [follow]: [a person who is] easy to anger and easy to appease -- his gain is canceled by his loss. [A person who is] hard to anger but [also] hard to appease -- his loss is canceled by his gain: A man who get angry quickly about everything - even though he goes back and is quickly appeased - his loss is greater than his reward; as most of his deeds are spoiled, since he is easy to anger about each and every thing. But [if he is] hard to anger - even though he has a bad trait [in] that he is hard to appease - his great reward [in] that he is hard to anger cancels out his small loss [in] that he is hard to appease, and most of his deeds are refined. And some [follow] the variant [that has] the opposite, and [the first] variant seems more like the main [one].

There are four kinds of temperments:
Easy to become angry, and easy to be appeased: his gain disappears in his loss;
Hard to become angry, and hard to be appeased: his loss disappears in his gain;
Hard to become angry and easy to be appeased: a pious person;
Easy to become angry and hard to be appeased: a wicked person.
One commentator points out that although the mishnah calls these qualities “temperaments”, human beings have the ability to change their “temperaments” from one to the other. Otherwise the one who is slow to anger and quick to be appeased would not be considered pious, for these qualities would be out of his control. While we might be born genetically disposed to certain characteristics, he can overcome our predisposition. Human beings, unlike animals, have control over their temperaments and therefore their moral attributes can be described by their level of self-control.
Easy to become angry, and easy to be pacified: his gain disappears in his loss: The fact that he is easily appeased is not helpful since he is so easily angered. This person ends up with a net loss.
Hard to become angry, and hard to be appeased: his loss disappears in his gain: The fact that he is “hard to be appeased” is compensated for by the fact that he rarely becomes angry. This person ends up with a net gain, although there is still room for improvement.
Hard to become angry and easy to be appeased: a pious person: Note that the pious person does occasionally get angry. He is not perfect. However, even on the rare occasions when he does get angry, he is subsequently easily appeased.
Easy to become angry and hard to be appeased: a wicked person: This person is constantly getting angry and can never be appeased. No one can get along with him and he is therefore accounted as wicked by most people.

EASY TO ANGER ETC.—HE IS WICKED. For the Talmud says (Berachot 29b), “be not angry and you will not sin”—Rashi. Maharal explains this in Derech Chaim according to the Talmud in Nedarim 22b, where Rav Nachman says that it is clear that anyone who gets angry has done many sins per the verse, “a man of anger incites strife, and a wrathful person has much sin” (Proverbs 29:22).

[A person who is] hard to anger but [also] hard to appease - his loss is canceled by his gain: The gain is greater than the loss, since he only gets angry sporadically, for a great necessity. And even if he is not quickly appeased from that anger - behold, he is patient most of the time.

an evildoer: As the master said, "Don't be angry, and don't sin" - Rashi. And Derekh Chaim explains that it is like what we say in Nedarim 22b, "Any person who gets angry, it is known that his sins are greater [than his merits], as is states, '(A man of anger stirs up strife;) and a wrathful man much transgression.'"

[A person who is] hard to anger, but easy to appease - [that's a] pious person: And it is not necessary that he never get angry, as sometimes a person needs to get angry out of zeal for God like Pinchas. Hence it said, "hard to anger," since he still needs to get angry - however it should be with difficulty at the times when he is not allowed to be without anger. And about this the wise men of ethics have said, "Do not be sweet, lest they swallow you up." And it is also a good thing to be appeased immediately - even when his anger is still upon him. And not after his anger has left him, but precisely at the time of his anger is he easy to appease - as this is from the trait of piety and good-heartedness.