“
Patience is a conquering virtue.
”
”
Geoffrey Chaucer
“
Get to part B, Daniel. Think fast. Patience is a virtue, and you know how Cam feels about those.
”
”
Lauren Kate (Fallen (Fallen, #1))
“
Patience, n. A minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue
”
”
Ambrose Bierce (The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary)
“
If patience wasn’t so easily tested, then it would hardly be a virtue. . .
”
”
Amor Towles (A Gentleman in Moscow)
“
Patience is a virtue and the best things in life are worth waiting for.
”
”
Julie Spira (The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online)
“
Patience is only a virtue when there is something worth waiting for.
”
”
Lauren Willig (The Masque of the Black Tulip (Pink Carnation, #2))
“
Patience is a virtue, but there comes a moment when you must stop being patient and take the day by the throat and shake it. If it fights back; fine. I'd rather end up bloody at the end of the day, then unhurt with no progress made, no knowledge gained. I'd rather have a no, then nothing. I'd forgotten that about myself.
”
”
Laurell K. Hamilton
“
Jake smiled, as if he enjoyed my temper tantrum. “Patience is a virtue.”
“Yeah, well, so is virginity, but I don’t have that anymore, either.
”
”
Alison Bliss (Rules of Protection (Tangled in Texas, #1))
“
Patience is a virtue,
Virtue is a grace.
Grace is a little girl
Who would not wash her face.
”
”
Dick King-Smith (Lady Daisy)
“
Wise men are not pacifists; they are merely less likely to jump up and retaliate against their antagonizers. They know that needless antagonizers are virtually already insecure enough.
”
”
Criss Jami (Killosophy)
“
Patience is not a virtue. It is an achievement.
”
”
Vera Nazarian (The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration)
“
Your least favorite virtue, or nominee for the most overrated one? Faith. Closely followed—in view of the overall shortage of time—by patience.
”
”
Christopher Hitchens (Hitch 22: A Memoir)
“
Seven times I have despised my soul:
The first time when I saw her being meek that she might attain height.
The second time when I saw her limping before the crippled.
The third time when she was given to choose between the hard and the easy, and she chose the easy.
The fourth time when she committed a wrong, and comforted herself that others also commit wrong.
The fifth time when she forbode for weakness, and attributed her patience to strength.
The sixth time when she despised the ugliness of a face, and knew not that it was one of her own masks.
And the seventh time when she sang a song of praise, and deemed it a virtue.
”
”
Kahlil Gibran (Sand and Foam)
“
The time has arrived when patience becomes a crime and mayhem appears garbed in a manner of virtue
”
”
Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan of the Apes (Tarzan, #1))
“
When we have faith and discipline everything becomes easier. Patience is the mother of all virtues. With anxiety all our lives become worse.
”
”
Francisco Cândido Xavier
“
When a storm of harassment disturbs our thinking and brings us down to our knees, the umbrella of our imagination can shield us against destructive aggression. It is offering shelter and is teaching us how to conquer ourselves, train our resilience, and grit our teeth. We better learn to adopt the virtue of endurance, as life consists of both ‘passion’ and ‘patience.’ ("The umbrella")
”
”
Erik Pevernagie
“
Patience is the mother of all virtues and the godmother of madness
”
”
Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Marina)
“
Patience is a virtue not a vice.
”
”
Jaachynma N.E. Agu
“
A noble deed is a dream before it is reality. The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird waits in the egg; and in the highest vision of the soul, a beautiful world waits to be realized.
”
”
James Allen (As a Man Thinketh)
“
they say that patience is a virtue but they never tell you that the heat of waiting will burn you if you linger too long.
”
”
K.Y. Robinson (The Chaos of Longing (First Edition))
“
If you want to know if someone was meant to be in your future, then remove all the worldly things about them from your mind. Don’t think about their looks, the intimate moments or their personality. Now, think about how they made you feel, how they improved your life and what virtues they possess that push you to want to become better. Did they bring you closer to God? Did they bring you to your life mission? Did they ever lie to you, betray you or made it impossible for you to feel comfortable speaking your mind? When you remove all the shine from a diamond, it becomes a glass rock. What value is it then? See beneath the surface and you will know who your future is with.
”
”
Shannon L. Alder
“
Only bad things happen quickly, . . . Virtually all the happiness-producing processes in our lives take time, usually a long time: learning new things, changing old behaviors, building satisfying relationships, raising children. This is why patience and determination are among life’s primary virtues.
”
”
Gordon Livingston
“
Good things come…” Her head fell back, giving him total access to her throat “to those who wait.’ Patience is a virtue, Alistair.
”
”
Cristiane Serruya (Trust: A New Beginning (Trust Trilogy, #1))
“
Cooking is an art and patience a virtue... Careful shopping, fresh
ingredients and an unhurried approach are nearly all you need. There is one more thing - love. Love for food and love for those you invite to your table. With a combination of these things you can be an artist - not perhaps in the representational style of a Dutch master, but rather more like Gauguin, the naïve, or Van Gogh,
the impressionist. Plates or pictures of sunshine taste of happiness and love.
”
”
Keith Floyd
“
The secret code of success is patience,
a virtue that can not be replaced.
It takes time to build great dreams.
”
”
Bernard Kelvin Clive
“
It’s true what they say about patience being a virtue; it just happens to be a virtue that I choose not to pursue.
”
”
Chelsea Handler (Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang)
“
Patience does not mean to passively endure. It means to be farsighted enough to trust the end result of a process
”
”
Elif Shafak (The Forty Rules of Love)
“
Patience is a virtue. (Tee)
Excuse me, pot, could you not pick on the kettle? (Joe)
”
”
Sherrilyn Kenyon (Phantom in the Night (B.A.D. Agency, #2))
“
Patience is a virtue, and something I don’t have much of when it comes to other human beings.
”
”
Ker Dukey (Empathy (Empathy, #1))
“
I may have mentioned patience wasn't one of my virtues. Actually, I didn't have many virtues but patience definitely wasn't one of them.
”
”
Kristen Ashley (Creed (Unfinished Hero, #2))
“
I hope I number patience among my virtues, but shilly-shallying, when nothing is to be gained by delay, is not a virtue.
”
”
Elizabeth Peters (Crocodile on the Sandbank (Amelia Peabody, #1))
“
Patience is not my dominant virtue. --D'Artagnan
”
”
Alexandre Dumas
“
Patience is indeed a virtue.
”
”
Rolf Dobelli (The Art of Thinking Clearly)
“
Patience is the greatest of virtues in a woodsman.
”
”
James Fenimore Cooper (Pathfinder; or, the inland sea)
“
Patience is a virtue that must be learned, but we must all be ready for the change of an instant.
”
”
Robert Jordan (The Great Hunt (The Wheel of Time #2))
“
To the Dalai Lama, suffering and adversity are the necessary conditions for developing patience and tolerance. These qualities are vital if we want to reduce negative emotions like hatred or anger. When things go well, we have less need to be patient and forgiving. It's only when we come across problems, when we suffer, that we truly learn these virtues. Once we internalize them, compassion flows naturally.
”
”
Victor Chan (The Wisdom of Forgiveness: Intimate Conversations and Journeys)
“
Patience, he told himself. Get yourself at least one virtue, anyway.
”
”
Richard Matheson (I Am Legend)
“
Patience and persistence are the keys... The keys to unlock doors of success... With these two virtues, you grow in reasoning and experience.
”
”
Ogwo David Emenike
“
Your father, Jo. He never loses patience,--never doubts or complains,--but always hopes, and works and waits so cheerfully, that one is ashamed to do otherwise before him. He helped and comforted me, and showed me that I must try to practise all the virtues I would have my little girls possess, for I was their example. It was easier for your sakes than for my own; a startled or surprised look from one of you, when I spoke sharply, rebuked me more than any words could have done; and the love, respect, and confidence of my children was the sweetest reward I could receive for my efforts to be the woman I would have them copy.
”
”
Louisa May Alcott (Little Women or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy)
“
Calm down. I’m a demon, Nick. Hematite doesn’t like my genetics. It doesn’t mean anything other than I have really bad parentage.”
“Then why am I having flashes of you killing me?”
“What’d you eat this morning?”
Nick didn’t care for that answer. Not one little bit. “I saw it happen. You were choking the life out of me.”
Caleb rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah. That is definitely a figment of your overactive, over-Hollywood-stimulated imagination. I assure you. I don’t kill people that way. Takes too long. I’m not into torture. I prefer a quick death so that I can move on to something more satisfying.”
Strangely enough, that he believed. Patience wasn’t a virtue Caleb practiced. “You sure?”
“Dude, look at me. You think I’d have let the demons pound all over me last night so that you could escape if I had any intention of killing you? Really?
”
”
Sherrilyn Kenyon (Invincible (Chronicles of Nick, #2))
“
I believe it's after the honeymoon ends that true love begins. It's in the hard times that the greater virtues of love reveal themselves, like tolerance and patience and kindness.
”
”
Richard Paul Evans (The Locket (The Locket, #1))
“
...her patience was, perhaps, tired out; for this is a virtue which is very apt to be fatigued by exercise.
”
”
Henry Fielding (The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling)
“
Silence is golden, but not for a child who bears pain. Patience is a virtue, but not for a mother who witnesses her child’s misery.
”
”
Rohit Dharupta (Order of the World)
“
Patience is a virtue.” “Yeah, so is chastity, but you don’t see me practicing it.
”
”
Lauren Asher (The Fine Print (Dreamland Billionaires, #1))
“
Patience is a virtue, Possess it if you can, Seldom found in woman, Never found in man.
”
”
Jonathan Morris (The Way of Serenity: Finding Peace and Happiness in the Serenity Prayer)
“
As you breathe, say to yourself: Breathing in, I am aware of breathing in. Breathing out, I am aware of breathing out.
”
”
M.J. Ryan (The Power of Patience: How This Old-Fashioned Virtue Can Improve Your Life (Meditations on Patience, Patience Book, Gift for Men and Women))
“
The virtues of free enterprise can become distorted by greed & delusion.
”
”
Allan Lokos (Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living)
“
Only add
Deeds to thy knowledge answerable; add faith;
Add virtue, patience, temperance; add love,
By name to come called charity, the soul
Of all the rest: then wilt thou not be loath
To leave this Paradise; but shalt possess
A paradise within thee, happier far.
”
”
John Milton
“
it is of the greatest importance that the ego should be anchored in the world of consciousness and that consciousness should be reinforced by a very precise adaptation. For this, certain virtues like attention, conscientiousness, patience, etc., are of great value on the moral side, just as accurate observation of the symptomatology of the unconscious and objective selfcriticism are valuable on the intellectual side.
”
”
C.G. Jung (Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self (Collected Works, Vol 9ii))
“
What is a woman's greatest virtue?
Patience.
”
”
India Edghill (Wisdom's Daughter: A Novel of Solomon and Sheba)
“
You have no one who has any sort of consideration for you. You have had patience and endurance till I am sick of the virtues, and what have they done for you? Half-killed you.
”
”
Virginia Woolf (Carlyle's House and Other Sketches)
“
Soldiers have nothing to look forward to, making patience an easy virtue, and sometimes it`s not just a virtue but a contest of indifference.
”
”
Steven Erikson (Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #1))
“
Patience was a virtue he possessed in abundance.
”
”
Sylvain Reynard (The Prince (The Florentine, #0.5))
“
Humility will cure Pride.
Kindness will cure Envy.
Temperance will cure Gluttony.
Chastity will cure Lust.
Patience will cure Wrath.
Charity will cure Greed.
Diligence will cure Sloth.
”
”
Tillie Cole (Raphael (Deadly Virtues, #1))
“
I pray thee, cease thy counsel,
Which falls into mine ears as profitless
As water in a sieve: give not me counsel;
Nor let no comforter delight mine ear
But such a one whose wrongs do suit with mine:
... for, brother, men
Can counsel and speak comfort to that grief Which they themselves not feel; but, tasting it,
Their counsel turns to passion, which before
Would give preceptial medicine to rage,
Fetter strong madness in a silken thread,
Charm ache with air and agony with words.
No, no; 'tis all men's office to speak patience
To those that wring under the load of sorrow,
But no man's virtue nor sufficiency
To be so moral when he shall endure
The like himself. Therefore give me no counsel:
My griefs cry louder than advertisement.
”
”
William Shakespeare (Much Ado About Nothing)
“
Patience is not the indiscriminate acceptance of any sort of evil: "It is not the one who does not flee from evil who is patient but rather the one who does not let himself thereby be drawn into disordered sadness." To be patient means not to allow the serenity and discernmet of one's soul to be taken away. Patience, then, is not the tear-streaked mirror of a "broken" life (as one might almost think, to judge from what is frequently shown and praised under this term) but rather is the radiant essence of final freedom from harm. Patience is, as Hildegard of Bingen states, "the pillar that is weakened by nothing.
”
”
Josef Pieper (A Brief Reader on the Virtues of the Human Heart)
“
What are you going to do?’ whispered Temple.
‘There was a time I’d have gone charging over there without a thought for the costs and got bloody.’ Lamb lifted the glass and looked at it for a moment. ‘But my father always said patience is the king of virtues. A man has to be realistic. Has to be.’
‘So what are you going to do?’
‘Wait. Think. Prepare.’ Lamb swallowed the last measure and bared his teeth at the glass. ‘Then get bloody.
”
”
Joe Abercrombie (Red Country)
“
I learned a lot, when I was a child, from novels and stories, even fairytales have some point to them--the good ones. The thing that impressed me most forcibly was this: the villains went to work with their brains and always accomplished something. To be sure they were "foiled" in the end, but that was by some special interposition of Providence, not by any equal exertion of intellect on the part of the good people. The heroes and middle ones were mostly very stupid. If bad things happened, they practised patience, endurance, resignation, and similar virtues; if good things happened they practised modesty and magnanimity and virtues like that, but it never seemed to occur to any of them to make things move their way. Whatever the villains planned for them to do, they did, like sheep. The same old combinations of circumstances would be worked off on them in book after book--and they always tumbled.
It used to worry me as a discord worries a musician. Hadn't they ever read anything? Couldn't they learn anything from what they read--ever? It appeared not. And it seemed to me, even as a very little child, that what we wanted was good people with brains, not just negative, passive, good people, but positive, active ones, who gave their minds to it.
"A good villain. That's what we need!" I said to myself. "Why don't they write about them? Aren't there ever any?"
I never found any in all my beloved story books, or in real life. And gradually, I made up my mind to be one.
”
”
Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Benigna Machiavelli)
“
After my modest victory I played patience (the card game, not the virtue, never that) in the lounge, something I had not done since my ill-starred Tintagel honeymoon with Madame X.
”
”
David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas)
“
Patience is the virtue that forges great men.
”
”
Chris Vincent (The Prisoner (The Book of Arcanes, #1))
“
Patience was a virtue I found pointless
”
”
Jennifer L. Armentrout (Obsession)
“
We applaud patience, but prefer it to be a virtue that others possess.
”
”
N.T. Wright (After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters)
“
The 7 Virtues of Love
1. Peace
2. Joy
3. Confidence
4. Patience
5. Kindness
6. Hope
7. Compassion
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
The sign that you have this virtue is patience, and impatience the sign that you have it not, and you will find that this is indeed so, when I speak to you further concerning this virtue.
”
”
Catherine of Siena (The Dialogue of Saint Catherine of Siena)
“
Faith, hope and charity go together. Hope is practised through the virtue of patience, which continues to do good even in the face of apparent failure, and through the virtue of humility, which accepts God's mystery and trusts him even at times of darkness. Faith tells us that God has given his Son for our sakes and gives us the victorious certainty that it is really true: God is love! It thus transforms our impatience and our doubts into the sure hope that God holds the world in his hands and that, as the dramatic imagery of the end of the Book of Revelation points out, in spite of all darkness he ultimately triumphs in glory. Faith, which sees the love of God revealed in the pierced heart of Jesus on the Cross, gives rise to love. Love is the light—and in the end, the only light—that can always illuminate a world grown dim and give us the courage needed to keep living and working. Love is possible, and we are able to practise it because we are created in the image of God. To experience love and in this way to cause the light of God to enter into the world—this is the invitation I would like to extend with the present Encyclical.
”
”
Pope Benedict XVI (God is Love: Deus Caritas Est)
“
Let us be, then, warriors of the heart, and enlist in our inner cause the virtues we have acquired through blood and sweat in the sphere of conflict—courage, patience, selflessness, loyalty, fidelity, self-command, respect for elders, love of our comrades (and of the enemy), perseverance, cheerfulness in adversity and a sense of humor, however terse or dark.
”
”
Steven Pressfield (The Warrior Ethos)
“
For each of you to receive revelation unique to your own needs and responsibilities, certain guidelines prevail. The Lord asks you to develop 'faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God.' Then with your firm 'faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, [and] diligence,' you may ask, and you will receive; you may knock, and it will be opened unto you (D&C 4:5–6; emphasis added).
”
”
Russell M. Nelson
“
I will bear any thing you can inflict upon me with Patience, even to the laying down of my Life, to shew my Obedience to you in other Cases; but I cannot be patient, I cannot be passive, when my Virtue is at Stake!
”
”
Samuel Richardson (Pamela)
“
As I was to learn, patience and latitude and even humility are, paradoxically, the handmaidens of wealth, because virtue is costly only for those who own nothing else.
”
”
James Lee Burke (Wayfaring Stranger (Holland Family Saga, #1))
“
Some have it that patience is actually despair dressed as a virtue.
”
”
Heather McGowan (Schooling)
“
MY BETH.
Sitting patient in the shadow
Till the blessed light shall come,
A serene and saintly presence
Sanctifies our troubled home.
Earthly joys and hopes and sorrows
Break like ripples on the strand
Of the deep and solemn river
Where her willing feet now stand.
O my sister, passing from me,
Out of human care and strife,
Leave me, as a gift, those virtues
Which have beautified your life.
Dear, bequeath me that great patience
Which has power to sustain
A cheerful, uncomplaining spirit
In its prison-house of pain.
Give me, for I need it sorely,
Of that courage, wise and sweet,
Which has made the path of duty
Green beneath your willing feet.
Give me that unselfish nature,
That with charity divine
Can pardon wrong for love's dear sake—
Meek heart, forgive me mine!
Thus our parting daily loseth
Something of its bitter pain,
And while learning this hard lesson,
My great loss becomes my gain.
For the touch of grief will render
My wild nature more serene,
Give to life new aspirations,
A new trust in the unseen.
Henceforth, safe across the river,
I shall see for evermore
A beloved, household spirit
Waiting for me on the shore.
Hope and faith, born of my sorrow,
Guardian angels shall become,
And the sister gone before me
By their hands shall lead me home.
”
”
Louisa May Alcott (Good Wives)
“
To set out for rehearsals in that quivering quarter-hour is to engage conclusions, not beginnings, for one walks past the guilded hallucinations of poverty with a corrupt resignation touched by details, as if the destitute, in their orange-tinted back yards, under their dusty trees, or climbing into their favelas, were all natural scene designers and poverty were not a condition but an art. Deprivation is made lyrical, and twilight, with the patience of alchemy, almost transmutes despair into virtue. In the tropics nothing is lovelier than the allotments of the poor, no theater is as vivid, voluble, and cheap.
”
”
Derek Walcott (What the Twilight Says: Essays)
“
It is inspiriting without doubt to whizz in a motor-car round the earth, to feel Arabia as a whirl of sand or China as a flash of rice-fields. But Arabia is not a whirl of sand and China is not a flash of rice-fields. They are ancient civilizations with strange virtues buried like treasures. If we wish to understand them it must not be as tourists or inquirers, it must be with the loyalty of children and the great patience of poets. To conquer these places is to lose them. The man standing in his own kitchen-garden, with fairyland opening at the gate, is the man with large ideas. His mind creates distance; the motor-car stupidly destroys it....
”
”
G.K. Chesterton (Heretics)
“
There too he had been treated with revolting injustice. His struggles, his privations,his hard work to raise himself in the social scale, had
filled him with such an exalted conviction of his merits that it was extremely difficult for the world to treat him with justice— the standard of that notion depending so much upon the patience of the individual. The Professor had genius, but lacked the great social virtue of resignation.
”
”
Joseph Conrad (The Secret Agent)
“
Justice is the gateway to peace.
Education is the gateway to equality.
Patience is the gateway to tolerance.
Compassion is the gateway to mercy.
Certainty is the gateway to assurance.
Hope is the gateway to courage.
Contentment is the gateway to happiness.
Integrity is the gateway to virtue.
Need is the gateway to want.
Laughter is the gateway to health.
Pleasure is the gateway to enjoyment.
Love is the gateway to joy.
Life is the gateway to death.
Reality is the gateway to truth.
Harmony is the gateway to order.
Time is the gateway to eternity.
Intelligence is the gateway to wisdom.
Focus is the gateway to determination.
Insight is the gateway to understanding.
Knowledge is the gateway to enlightenment.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
The notion of marriage as a union between two sovereign selves affirms virtues like independence, initiative, and self-reliance. Yet while attending to the virtues associated with the integrity of the individual, our contemporary discourse on marriage entirely neglects the virtues that are essential to the integrity of bonds--virtues like fidelity, kindness, forgiveness, modesty, gratitude, loyalty, patience, generosity, and selflessness.
”
”
Barbara Dafoe Whitehead (The Divorce Culture)
“
There is no gem like truth,
no wealth like knowledge,
no treasure like understanding,
and no jewel like love.
There is no gem like gratitude,
no wealth like humility,
no treasure like patience,
and no jewel like virtue,
There is no gem like peace,
no wealth like contentment,
no treasure like faith,
and no jewel like joy.
There is no gem like time,
no wealth like experience,
no treasure like reality,
and no jewel like life.
There is no gem like prudence,
no wealth like health,
no treasure like prayer,
and no jewel like meditation.
There is no gem like nature,
no wealth like harmony,
no treasure like Heaven,
and no jewel like God.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
Indeed, there is something in the very form of reading—the shape of the action itself—that tends toward virtue. The attentiveness necessary for deep reading (the kind of reading we practice in reading literary works as opposed to skimming news stories or reading instructions) requires patience. The skills of interpretation and evaluation require prudence. Even the simple decision to set aside time to read in a world rife with so many other choices competing for our attention requires a kind of temperance.
”
”
Karen Swallow Prior (On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life Through Great Books)
“
Especially when we are afraid, angry, or confused, we may be tempted to give away bits of our freedom—or, less painfully, somebody else’s freedom—in the quest for direction and order. Bill Clinton observed that when people are uncertain, they’d rather have leaders who are strong and wrong than right and weak. Throughout history, demagogues have often outperformed democrats in generating popular fervor, and it is almost always because they are perceived to be more decisive and sure in their judgments.
In times of relative tranquility, we feel we can afford to be patient. We understand that policy questions are complicated and merit careful thought. We want our leaders to consult experts, gather as much information as possible, test assumptions, and give us a chance to voice our opinions on the available options. We see long-term planning as necessary and deliberation as a virtue, but when we decide that action is urgently needed, our tolerance for delay disappears.
In those moments, many of us no longer want to be asked, “What do you think?” We want to be told where to march. That is when Fascism gets its start: other options don’t seem enough.
”
”
Madeleine K. Albright (Fascism: A Warning)
“
It is an unfortunate fact that the bulk of humanity is too limited in its mental vision to weigh with patience and intelligence those isolated phenomena, seen and felt only by a psychologically sensitive few, which lie outside its common experience. Men of broader intellect know that there is no sharp distinction betwixt the real and the unreal; that all things appear as they do only by virtue of the delicate individual physical and mental media through which we are made conscious of them; but the prosaic materialism of the majority condemns as madness the flashes of super-sight which penetrate the common veil of obvious empiricism.
”
”
H.P. Lovecraft (The Complete Works of H.P. Lovecraft)
“
Virtue does not consist in whether you face towards the East or the West; virtue means believing in God, the Last Day, the angels, the Book and the prophets; the virtuous are those who, despite their love for it, give away their wealth to their relatives and to orphans and the very poor, and to travellers and those who ask [for charity], and to set slaves free, and who attend to their prayers and pay the alms, and who keep their pledges when they make them, and show patience in hardship and adversity, and in times of distress. Such are the true believers; and such are the God-fearing.
”
”
Anonymous (The Quran: A Simple English Translation (Goodword))
“
Galatians 5:22-23 describes the fruit of the Spirit, which is "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Notice the verse does not say the "fruits" of the Spirit, but fruit. The fruit, or result, of the Spirit working in our lives is that we become not just some but all of these things: more loving, more patient, more faithful, and so forth. This verse is not a to-do list for us to work through, but a description of the transformation that occurs when God's Spirit begins to work in us.
”
”
Keri Wyatt Kent (Deeper into the Word: Reflections on 100 Words From the New Testament)
“
We often wonder why God gives and takes, constricts and expands. What we forget is that human beings understand things by their opposites. Without dark, we can’t understand light. Without hardship, we wouldn’t *experience* ease. Without the existence of deprivation and loss, we couldn’t grasp the need for gratitude or the virtue of patience. And without separation, we wouldn’t taste the sweetness of reunion.
Glory be to the one who gives—even when He takes.
”
”
Yasmin Mogahed
“
The Creed for the Sociopathic Obsessive Compulsive (Peter's Laws)
1. If anything can go wrong, Fix it!!! (To hell with Murphy!!)
2. When given a choice - Take Both!!
3. Multiple projects lead to multiple successes.
4. Start at the top, then work your way up.
5. Do it by the book... but be the author!
6. When forced to compromise, ask for more.
7. If you can't beat them, join them, then beat them.
8. If it's worth doing, it's got to be done right now.
9. If you can't win, change the rules.
10. If you can't change the rules, then ignore them.
11. Perfection is not optional.
12. When faced without a challenge, make one.
13. "No" simply means begin again at one level higher.
14. Don't walk when you can run.
15. Bureaucracy is a challenge to be conquered with a righteous attitude, a tolerance for stupidity, and a bulldozer when necessary.
16. When in doubt: THINK!
17. Patience is a virtue, but persistence to the point of success is a blessing.
18. The squeaky wheel gets replaced.
19. The faster you move, the slower time passes, the longer you live.
20. The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself!!
”
”
Peter Safar
“
The truth is that exploration and enlargement make the world smaller. The telegraph and the steamboat make the world smaller. The telescope makes the world smaller; it is only the microscope that makes it larger. Before long the world will be cloven with a war between the telescopists and the microscopists. The first study large things and live in a small world; the second study small things and live in a large world. It is inspiriting without doubt to whizz in a motor-car round the earth, to feel Arabia as a whirl of sand or China as a flash of rice-fields. But Arabia is not a whirl of sand and China is not a flash of rice-fields. They are ancient civilizations with strange virtues buried like treasures. If we wish to understand them it must not be as tourists or inquirers, it must be with the loyalty of children and the great patience of poets. To conquer these places is to lose them.
”
”
G.K. Chesterton (Heretics)
“
Fishing provides time to think, and reason not to. If you have the virtue of patience, an hour or two of casting alone is plenty of time to review all you’ve learned about the grand themes of life. It’s time enough to realize that every generalization stands opposed by a mosaic of exceptions, and that the biggest truths are few indeed. Meanwhile, you feel the wind shift and the temperature change. You might simply decide to be present, and observe a few facts about the drifting clouds…Fishing in a place is a meditation on the rhythm of a tide, a season, the arc of a year, and the seasons of life... I fish to scratch the surface of those mysteries, for nearness to the beautiful, and to reassure myself the world remains. I fish to wash off some of my grief for the peace we so squander. I fish to dip into that great and awesome pool of power that propels these epic migrations. I fish to feel- and steal- a little of that energy.
”
”
Carl Safina (The View from Lazy Point: A Natural Year in an Unnatural World)
“
Patience — the ability to put our desires on hold for a time — is a precious and rare virtue. We want what we want, and we want it now. Therefore, the very idea of patience may seem unpleasant and, at times, bitter. Nevertheless, without patience, we cannot please God; we cannot become perfect. Indeed, patience is a purifying process that refines understanding, deepens happiness, focuses action, and offers hope for peace.
”
”
Dieter F. Uchtdorf
“
The Greeks believed that it was a citizen's duty to watch a play. It was a kind of work in that it required attention, judgement, patience, all the social virtues."
"And the Greek were conquered by the more practical Romans, Arthur."
"Indeed, the Romans built their bridges, but they also spent many centuries wishing they were Greeks. And they, after all, were conquered by the barbarians, or by their own corrupt and small spirits.
”
”
Timberlake Wertenbaker
“
It is only in the heat of pain and suffering, both mental and physical, that real human character is forged. One does not develop courage without facing danger, patience without trials, wisdom without heart- and brain-racking puzzles, endurance without suffering, or temperance and honesty without temptations. These are the very things we treasure most about people. Ask yourself if you would be willing to be devoid of all these virtues. If your answer is no, then don’t scorn the means of obtaining them. The gold of human character is dug from torturous mines, but its dung and dirt are quite easily come by. And it should come as no surprise to us that in our time—the time of the great flight from pain—such virtues as these are conspicuous only by their absence. I’m
”
”
Dallas Willard (The Allure of Gentleness: Defending the Faith in the Manner of Jesus)
“
Peace is an ocean,
harmony is the ship,
tolerance is the captain,
and strife is the storm.
Joy is an ocean,
faith is the ship,
hope is the captain,
and despair is the storm.
Love is an ocean,
kindness is the ship,
compassion is the captain,
and greed is the storm.
Virtue is an ocean,
prudence is the ship,
goodness is the captain,
and vice is the storm.
Friendship is an ocean,
trust is the ship,
patience is the captain,
and betrayal is the storm.
Destiny is an ocean,
purpose is the ship,
character is the captain,
and misfortune is the storm.
Experience is an ocean,
the present is the ship,
the past is the captain,
and pain is the storm.
The soul is an ocean,
the heart is the ship,
the soul is the captain,
and darkness is the storm.
Life is an ocean,
reality is the ship,
awareness is the captain,
and mortality is the storm.
Eternity is an ocean,
time is the ship,
destiny is the captain,
and death is the storm.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
Political writers argue in regard to the love of liberty with the same philosophy that philosophers do in regard to the state of nature; by the things they see they judge of things very different which they have never seen, and they attribute to men a natural inclination to slavery, on account of the patience with which the slaves within their notice carry the yoke; not reflecting that it is with liberty as with innocence and virtue, the value of which is not known but by those who possess them, though the relish for them is lost with the things themselves. I know the charms of your country, said Brasidas to a satrap who was comparing the life of the Spartans with that of the Persepolites; but you can not know the pleasures of mine.
”
”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (Dover Thrift Editions: Philosophy))
“
The Man of Power is one who presides—
By persuasion. He uses no demeaning words or behavior, does not manipulate others, appeals to the best in everyone, and respects the dignity and
agency of all humankind—men, women, boys, and girls.
By long-suffering. He waits when necessary and listens to the humblest or youngest person. He is tolerant of the ideas of others and avoids quick judgments and anger.
By gentleness. He uses a smile more often than a frown. He is not gruff or loud or frightening; he does not discipline in anger.
By meekness. He is not puffed up, does not dominate conversations, and is willing to conform his will to the will of God.
By love unfeigned. He does not pretend. He is sincere, giving honest love without reservation even when others are unlovable.
By kindness. He practices courtesy and thoughtfulness in little things as well as in the more obvious things. By pure knowledge. He avoids half-truths and seeks to be empathetic.
Without hypocrisy. He practices the principles he teaches. He knows he is not always right and is willing to admit his mistakes and say ‘I’m sorry.'
Without guile. He is not sly or crafty in his dealings with others, but is honest and authentic when describing his feelings.
”
”
H. Burke Peterson
“
If you ask God for wisdom, He will give you a problem.
If you ask God for success, He will give you a duty.
If you ask God for riches, He will give you a dream.
If you ask God for power, He will give you a task.
If you ask God for patience, He will give you a burden.
If you ask God for strength, He will give you a load.
If you ask God for love, He will give you an enemy.
If you ask God for virtue, He will give you a temptation.
If you ask God for faith, He will give you a prophecy.
If you ask God to be a leader, He will make you a servant.
If you ask God to be a general, He will make you a soldier.
If you ask God to be a teacher, He will make you a student.
If you ask God to be a scholar, He will make you a thinker.
If you ask God to be a writer, He will make you a reader.
If you ask God to be an artist, He will make you a daydreamer.
If you ask God to be a pope, He will make you a priest.
If you ask God to be an architect, He will make you a builder.
If you ask God to be a sage, He will make you a learner.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
Truth is the eldest daughter of knowledge.
Intelligence is the eldest daughter of wisdom.
Perception is the eldest daughter of understanding.
Exposure is the eldest daughter of awareness.
Calmness is the eldest daughter of peace.
Hope is the eldest daughter of faith.
Charity is the eldest daughter of virtue.
Humility is the eldest daughter of honor.
Mercy is the eldest daughter of grace.
Chastity is the eldest daughter of piety.
Modesty is the eldest daughter of meekness.
Desire is the eldest daughter of action.
Prudence is the eldest daughter of caution.
Trust is the eldest daughter of Integrity.
Friendship is the eldest daughter of kindness.
Tolerance is the eldest daughter of equality.
Freedom is the eldest daughter of democracy.
Praise is the eldest daughter of appreciation.
Patience is the eldest daughter of diligence.
Maturity is the eldest daughter of growth.
Harmony is the eldest daughter of order.
Sound is the eldest daughter of movement.
Heat is the eldest daughter of motion.
Acceleration is the eldest daughter of force.
Experience is the eldest daughter of reality.
Chance is the eldest daughter of destiny.
Time is the eldest daughter of eternity.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
If you care about peace, then you should care about justice.
If you care about justice, then you should care about truth.
If you care about truth, then you should care about integrity.
If you care about integrity, then you should care about virtue.
If you care about joy, then you should care about happiness.
If you care about happiness, then you should care about fufilment.
If you care about fufilment,then you should care about needs contentment.
If you care about contentment, then you should care about patience.
If you care about strength, then you should care about courage.
If you care about courage, then you should care about hope.
If you care about hope, then you should care about faith.
If you care about faith, then you should care about love.
If you care about wealth, then you should care about excellence.
If you care about excellence, then you should care about hardwork.
If you care about hardwork, then you should care about determination.
If you care about determination, then you should care about focus.
If you care about education, then you should care about schools.
If you care about schools, then you should care about students.
If you care about students, then you should care about teachers.
If you care about teachers, then you should care about salaries.
If you care about people, then you should care about communities.
If you care about communities, then you should care about cities.
If you care about cities, then you should care about provinces.
If you care about provinces, then you should care about nations.
If you care about yourself, then you should care about life.
If you care about life, then you should care about health.
If you care about health, then you should care about excersise.
If you care about excersise, then you should care about nutrition.
If you care about food, then you should care about animals.
If you care about animals, then you should care about earth.
If you care about earth, then you should care about nature.
If you care about nature, then you should care about water.
If you care about yesturday, then you should care about today.
If you care about today, then you should care about now.
If you care about now, then you should care about tomorrow.
If you care about tomorrow, then you should care about forever.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
Joy is the best companion,
virtue is the noblest acquaintance,
wisdom is cleverest friend,
and love is the kindest soulmate.
Humility is the best companion,
gratitude is the noblest acquaintance,
intelligence is cleverest friend,
and patience is the kindest soulmate.
Laughter is the best companion,
contentment is the noblest acquaintance,
silence is cleverest friend,
and goodness is the kindest soulmate.
Tolerance is the best companion,
equality is the noblest acquaintance,
discernment is cleverest friend,
and compassion is the kindest soulmate.
Freedom is the best companion,
harmony is the noblest acquaintance,
prudence is cleverest friend,
and peace is the kindest soulmate.
Truth is the best companion,
discipline is the noblest acquaintance,
intellect is cleverest friend,
and honor is the kindest soulmate.
Knowledge is the best companion,
understanding is the noblest acquaintance,
intuition is cleverest friend,
and reason is the kindest soulmate.
Faith is the best companion,
expectation is the noblest acquaintance,
caution is cleverest friend,
and God is the kindest soulmate.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
Intelligence is a tenant in the house of wisdom.
Knowledge is a tenant in the house of nature.
Insight is a tenant in the house of understanding.
Wealth is a tenant in the house of risk.
Mastery is a tenant in the house of discipline.
Patience is a tenant in the house of virtue.
Tolerance is a tenant in the house of freedom.
Awareness is a tenant in the house of experience.
Rest is a tenant in the house of sleep.
Laughter is a tenant in the house of joy.
Hope is a tenant in the house of faith.
Contentment is a tenant in the house of peace.
Kindness is a tenant in the house of love.
Harmony is a tenant in the house of order.
Humility is a tenant in the house of honor.
Caution is a tenant in the house of prudence.
Speech is a tenant in the house of silence.
Certainty is a tenant in the house of conviction.
Expectation is a tenant in the house of desire.
Need is a tenant in the house of want.
Truth is a tenant in the house of reality.
Chance is a tenant in the house of fate.
Time is a tenant in the house of eternity.
Life is a tenant in the house of death.
Nature is a tenant in the house of God.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
My concern with democracy is highly specific. It begins in observing the remarkable fact that, while democracy means a government accountable to the electorate, our rulers now make us accountable to them. Most Western governments hate me smoking, or eating the wrong kind of food, or hunting foxes, or drinking too much, and these are merely the surface disapprovals, the ones that provoke legislation or public campaigns. We also borrow too much money for our personal pleasures, and many of us are very bad parents. Ministers of state have been known to instruct us in elementary matters, such as the importance of reading stories to our children. Again, many of us have unsound views about people of other races, cultures, or religions, and the distribution of our friends does not always correspond, as governments think that it ought, to the cultural diversity of our society. We must face up to the grim fact that the rulers we elect are losing patience with us.
No philosopher can contemplate this interesting situation without beginning to reflect on what it can mean. The gap between political realities and their public face is so great that the term “paradox” tends to crop up from sentence to sentence. Our rulers are theoretically “our” representatives, but they are busy turning us into the instruments of the projects they keep dreaming up. The business of governments, one might think, is to supply the framework of law within which we may pursue happiness on our own account. Instead, we are constantly being summoned to reform ourselves. Debt, intemperance, and incompetence in rearing our children are no doubt regrettable, but they are vices, and left alone, they will soon lead to the pain that corrects. Life is a better teacher of virtue than politicians, and most sensible governments in the past left moral faults to the churches. But democratic citizenship in the twenty-first century means receiving a stream of improving “messages” from politicians. Some may forgive these intrusions because they are so well intentioned. Who would defend prejudice, debt, or excessive drinking? The point, however, is that our rulers have no business telling us how to live. They are tiresome enough in their exercise of authority—they are intolerable when they mount the pulpit. Nor should we be in any doubt that nationalizing the moral life is the first step towards totalitarianism.
We might perhaps be more tolerant of rulers turning preachers if they were moral giants. But what citizen looks at the government today thinking how wise and virtuous it is? Public respect for politicians has long been declining, even as the population at large has been seduced into demanding political solutions to social problems. To demand help from officials we rather despise argues for a notable lack of logic in the demos. The statesmen of eras past have been replaced by a set of barely competent social workers eager to take over the risks of our everyday life. The electorates of earlier times would have responded to politicians seeking to bribe us with such promises with derision. Today, the demos votes for them.
”
”
Kenneth Minogue (The Servile Mind: How Democracy Erodes the Moral Life (Encounter Broadsides))
“
But psychology is passing into a less simple phase. Within a few years what one may call a microscopic psychology has arisen in Germany, carried on by experimental methods, asking of course every moment for introspective data, but eliminating their uncertainty by operating on a large scale and taking statistical means. This method taxes patience to the utmost, and could hardly have arisen in a country whose natives could be bored. Such Germans as Weber, Fechner, Vierordt, and Wundt obviously cannot ; and their success has brought into the field an array of younger experimental psychologists, bent on studying the elements of the mental life, dissecting them out from the gross results in which they are embedded, and as far as possible reducing them to quantitative scales. The simple and open method of attack having done what it can, the method of patience, starving out, and harassing to death is tried ; the Mind must submit to a regular siege, in which minute advantages gained night and day by the forces that hem her in must sum themselves up at last into her overthrow. There is little of the grand style about these new prism, pendulum, and chronograph-philosophers. They mean business, not chivalry. What generous divination, and that superiority in virtue which was thought by Cicero to give a man the best insight into nature, have failed to do, their spying and scraping, their deadly tenacity and almost diabolic cunning, will doubtless some day bring about.
No general description of the methods of experimental psychology would be instructive to one unfamiliar with the instances of their application, so we will waste no words upon the attempt.
”
”
William James (The Principles of Psychology: Volume 1)
“
How clear she shines ! How quietly
I lie beneath her guardian light;
While heaven and earth are whispering me,
" To morrow, wake, but, dream to-night."
Yes, Fancy, come, my Fairy love !
These throbbing temples softly kiss;
And bend my lonely couch above
And bring me rest, and bring me bliss.
The world is going; dark world, adieu !
Grim world, conceal thee till the day;
The heart, thou canst not all subdue,
Must still resist, if thou delay !
Thy love I will not, will not share;
Thy hatred only wakes a smile;
Thy griefs may wound–thy wrongs may tear,
But, oh, thy lies shall ne'er beguile !
While gazing on the stars that glow
Above me, in that stormless sea,
I long to hope that all the woe
Creation knows, is held in thee !
And, this shall be my dream to-night;
I'll think the heaven of glorious spheres
[Page 104]
Is rolling on its course of light
In endless bliss, through endless years;
I'll think, there's not one world above,
Far as these straining eyes can see,
Where Wisdom ever laughed at Love,
Or Virtue crouched to Infamy;
Where, writhing 'neath the strokes of Fate,
The mangled wretch was forced to smile;
To match his patience 'gainst her hate,
His heart rebellious all the while.
Where Pleasure still will lead to wrong,
And helpless Reason warn in vain;
And Truth is weak, and Treachery strong;
And Joy the surest path to Pain;
And Peace, the lethargy of Grief;
And Hope, a phantom of the soul;
And Life, a labour, void and brief;
And Death, the despot of the whole !
”
”
Emily Brontë (The Complete Poems)