You can chase a butterfly all over the field and never catch it. But if you sit quietly in the grass it will come and sit on your shoulder.
—Anonymous
A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains.
—Dutch Proverb
Let the gentle bush dig its root deep and spread upward to split the boulder.
—Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) American Biographer, Novelist, Socialist
How poor are they that have not patience? What wound did ever heal but by degrees?
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
A patient man is one who can put up with himself.
—Unknown
Patience is even more rarely manifested in the intellect than it is in the temper.
—Arthur Helps (1813–75) British Essayist, Historian
Consider the postage stamp, my son. It secures success through its ability to stick to one thing till it gets there.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
Patience is the companion of wisdom.
—Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Roman-African Christian Philosopher
If I have made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention than to any other talent.
—Isaac Newton (1643–1727) English Physicist, Mathematician, Astronomer, Theologian
Patience is the mother of a beautiful child.
—African Proverb
Dios tarda pero no olvida—God delays but doesn’t forget.
—Spanish Proverb
Patience when teased is often transformed into rage.
—Common Proverb
Patience makes lighter what sorrow may not heal.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
Patience is a most necessary qualification for business; many a man would rather you heard his story than granted his request. One must seem to hear the unreasonable demands of the petulant, unmoved, and the tedious details of the dull, untired. That is the least price that a man must pay for a high station.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
Time brings all things to pass.
—Aeschylus (525–456 BCE) Greek Playwright
An ounce of patience is worth a pound of brains.
—Dutch Proverb
Patience, money and time bring all things to past.
—Common Proverb
That’s the advantage of having lived 65 years. You don’t feel the need to be impatient any longer.
—Thornton Wilder (1897–1975) American Novelist, Playwright
All that I have accomplished, or expect or hope to accomplish, has been, and will be by that plodding, patient, persevering process of accretion which builds the ant-heap particle by particle, thought by thought, fact by fact. If I was ever actuated by ambition its highest and warmest aspiration reached no further than the hope to set before the young men of any country an example in employing those invaluable fragments of time called odd moments.
—Elihu Burritt (1810–79) American Pacifist, Diplomat
I am patient with stupidity, but not with those who are proud of it.
—Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) British Poet, Literary Critic
The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.
—Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian Novelist
Patience and shuffle the cards.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
How can a society that exists on instant mashed potatoes, packaged cake mixes, frozen dinners, and instant cameras teach patience to its young?
—Paul Sweeney
Most men need patience to die, but a saint who understands what death admits him to should rather need patience to live
—Indian Proverb
He that is patient will persevere; and he that perseveres will often have occasion for, as well as trial of patience.
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian
The practice of patience toward one another, the overlooking of one another’s defects, and the bearing of one another’s burdens is the most elementary condition of all human and social activity in the family, in the professions, and in society.
—Lawrence G. Lovasik
Patience is the art of hoping.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.
—Chinese Proverb
Inaction may be the biggest form of action.
—Jerry Brown (b.1938) American Politician, Lawyer
Always be patient with the rich and powerful.
—Spanish Proverb