"A gentle answer turns away wrath" (15:1). Does a gentle answer always calm someone's anger?

The verse says what a gentle answer does and what a harsh word does: "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (15:1). It doesn't say how often, and it doesn't say it never fails. The book says something like it again: "By patience a ruler is persuaded. A soft tongue breaks the bone" (Proverbs 25:15), where soft is the Hebrew word of 15:1's gentle (tap gentle in 15:1). The book also speaks of people who don't turn. In this chapter, "A scoffer doesn’t love to be reproved" (Proverbs 15:12), and later, "If a wise man goes to court with a foolish man, the fool rages or scoffs, and there is no peace" (Proverbs 29:9). And it sets two sayings on answering a fool side by side, each with its own reason (Proverbs 26:4-5). The book holds all of these. These notes quote 15:1 as it stands; they don't make it a guarantee, and they don't explain it away.