Remove a splinter with a lancet, not a stick

Venerable John Climacus ~ The Ladder of Divine Ascent
Step 8 ~ On Freedom from Anger

¶20. If you want, or rather intend, to take a splinter out of another person, then do not hack at it with a stick instead of a lancet, for you will only drive it in deeper. And this is a stick - rude speech and rough gestures. And this is a lancet - tempered instruction and patient reprimand. ‘Reprove,’ says the Apostle, ‘rebuke, exhort,’ but he did not say ‘beat.’ And if even this is a required, do it rarely, and not with your own hand.