more in sorrow than in anger
Saddened rather than infuriated by someone's behavior. For example, When Dad learned that Jack had stolen a car, he looked at him more in sorrow than in anger. This expression first appeared in 1603 in Shakespeare's Hamlet (1:2), where Horatio describes to Hamlet the appearance of his father's ghost: “A countenance more in sorrow than in anger.”
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Examples from the Web for more in sorrow than in anger
Contemporary Examples of more in sorrow than in anger
I'd guess they told him to come across as genially disappointed, more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger, and he kind of went off the rails.
