Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 2: The Path of Understanding

Bhagavad Gita 2.63

क्रोधाद्भवति संमोहः संमोहात्स्मृतिविभ्रमः । स्मृतिभ्रंशाद् बुद्धिनाशो बुद्धिनाशात्प्रणश्यति ॥

krodhādbhavati saṃmohaḥ saṃmohātsmṛtivibhramaḥ | smṛtibhraṃśād buddhināśo buddhināśātpraṇaśyati ||

From anger comes delusion; from delusion, confusion of memory; from confused memory, the ruin of understanding; and when understanding is ruined, a person is lost.

Modern context

The chain is completed. Anger clouds judgement. In that cloud we forget what we know: our values, what we have learned, who the other person is to us. With memory gone, the power to discern fails, and then a person does what ruins them. Anyone who has said something unforgivable in a rage has lived this verse.