Patience is the ability to endure waiting, delay, or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset, or to persevere calmly when faced with difficulties.

Sourced

• Patience is not only a virtue, but an acquired trait.
  • Christian Calhoun, The Story of My Life

• Patience, that blending of moral courage with physical timidity.
  • Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles

• Let him that hath no power of patience retire within himself, though even there he will have to put up with himself.
  • Baltasar Gracián, The Art of Worldy Wisdom, (1647)

• Patience makes lighter / What sorrow may not heal. ("sed levius fit patientia quidquid corrigere est nefas")
  • Horace, Hor. Carm. 1.24

• Patience is the guardian of faith, the preserver of peace, the cherisher of love, the teacher of humility; Patience governs the flesh, strengthens the spirit, sweetens the temper, stifles anger, extinguishes envy, subdues pride; she bridles the tongue, refrains the hand, tramples upon temptations, endures persecutions, consummates martyrdom; Patience produces unity in the church, loyalty in the State, harmony in families and societies; she comforts the poor and moderates the rich; she makes us humble in prosperity, cheerful in adversity, unmoved by calumny and reproach; she teaches us to forgive those who have injured us, and to be the first in asking forgiveness of those whom we have injured; she delights the faithful, and invites the unbelieving; she adorns the woman, and approves the man; is loved in a child, praised in a young man, admired in an old man; she is beautiful in either sex and every age.
  • Bishop Horne, Discourses on Several Subjects and Occasions Patience Portrayed

• We have only to be patient, to pray, and to do His will, according to our present light and strength, and the growth of the soul will go on. The plant grows in the mist and under clouds as truly as under sunshine; so does the heavenly principle within.
  • William Ellery Channing letter 2 September 1826

• He that will have a cake out of the wheat must tarry the grinding.
  • William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida Act I, scene i

• Patience is a nobler motion than any deed.
  • C.A. Bartol, Radical Problems 1872

• Patience is the ballast of the soul, that will keep it from rolling and tumbling in the greatest storms: and he, that will venture out without this to make him sail even and steady will certainly make shipwreck, and drown himself; first, in the cares and sorrows of this world; and, then, in perdition.
  • Ezekiel Hopkins Death disarmed of it Sting Of Patience under Afflictions

• Il n'y a point de chemin trop long à qui marche lentement et sans se presser: il n'y a point d'avantages trop éloignés à qui s'y prépare par la patience.
  • Translation: There is no road too long to the man who advances deliberately and without undue haste; there are no honours too distant to the man who prepares himself for them with patience.
  • La Bruyère, Les Caractères (1688) Des jugements, aphorism 108

• If the wicked flourish and thou suffer, be not discouraged. They are fatted for destruction; thou art dieted for health.
  • Thomas Fuller Introductio Ad Prudentiam no. 844

• Patience is sorrow's salve.
  • Charles Churchill The Prophecy of Famine

• There is, however, a limit at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue.
  • Edmund Burke, Observations on a Late Publication, Intituled, "The Present State of the Nation"

• Blessings may appear under the shape of pains, losses, and disappointments; but let him have patience, and he will see them in their proper figures.
  • Joseph Addison The Guardian no. 117 25 July 1713

• He that can have patience can have what he will.
  • Benjamin Franklin Poor Richard's Almanack June 1736

• Patience, my lord. Why, 'tis the soul of peace.
  Of all the virtues 'tis near'st kin to heaven.
  It makes men look like gods; the best of men
  That e'er wore earth about him was a sufferer,
  A soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit,
  The first true gentleman that ever breath'd.
  • Thomas Dekker and Thomas Middleton The Honest Whore Part One, act V scene II

• Though patience be a tired mare, yet she will plod.
  • William Shakespeare - Henry V Act II, scene i

• We shall sooner have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it.
  • Abraham Lincoln White House speech 11 April 1865

• Patience and diligence, like faith, remove mountains.
  • William Penn Some Fruits of Solitude In Reflections And Maxims (1682) no. 234

• Patience is the art of hoping.
  • Marquis De Vauvenargues Reflections and Maxims (1746) no. 251

• Patience, n. A minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue.
  • Ambrose Bierce The Devil's Dictionary

• Beware the fury of a patient man.
  • John Dryden Absalom and Achitophel (1681)

• Our patience will achieve more than our force.
  • Edmund Burke Reflections on the Revolution in France

• The bearing of a child takes nine months, no matter how many women are assigned.
  • Fred Brooks, The Mythical Man-Month, Ch. 2 (1975, 1995)

Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895).

• The disciples of a patient Saviour should be patient themselves.
  • Charles Spurgeon, p. 442.

• Dispose thyself to patience rather than to comfort, and to the bearing of the cross rather than to gladness.
  • Thomas à Kempis, p. 442.

• Patience is enduring love; experience is perfecting love; and hope is exulting love.
  • Alexander Dickson, p. 442.

• Patience is the ballast of the soul that will keep it from rolling and tumbling in the greatest storms.
  • Bishop Hopkins, p. 442.

• A true Christian man is distinguished from other men, not so much by his beneficent works, as by his patience.
  • Horace Bushnell, p. 442.

• Christ commands you to take up His cross and follow Him, not that He may humble you, or lay some penance upon you, but that you may surrender the low self-will and the feeble pride of your sin, and ascend into the sublime patience of heavenly charity.
  • Horace Bushnell, p. 443.

• It is not necessary for all men to be great in action. The greatest and sublimest power is often simple patience.
  • Horace Bushnell, p. 443.

• Therefore, let us be patient, patient; and let God our Father teach His own lesson, His own way. Let us try to learn it well and quickly; but do not let us fancy that He will ring the school-bell, and send us to play before our lesson is learnt.
  • Charles Kingsley, p. 443.

• Not without design does God write the music of our lives. Be it ours to learn the time, and not be discouraged at the rests. If we say sadly to ourselves, "There is no music in a rest," let us not forget " there is the making of music in it." The making of music is often a slow and painful process in this life. How patiently God works to teach us! How long He waits for us to learn the lesson!
  • John Ruskin, p. 443.

• Patience! why, it is the soul of peace; of all the virtues it is nearest kin to heaven; it makes men look like gods. The best of men that ever wore earth about Him was a Sufferer,— a soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit; the first true gentleman that ever breathed.
  • Thomas Decker, p. 443.

• It is easy finding reasons why other folks should be patient.
  • George Eliot, p. 443.

• When I am about my work, sometimes called unexpectedly and suddenly from one thing to another, I whisper in my heart, " Lord, help me to be patient, help me to remember, and help me to be faithful. Lord, enable me to do all for Christ's sake, and to go forward, leaning on the bosom of His infinite grace."
  • Mary Lyon, p. 444.

• The holier one is, the more forbearing and loving he is; the more tender and patient and anxious to help others in every way. Think how forbearing and loving Christ is when we do wrong; and there we are to be like Him.
  • Arthur Henry Kenney, p. 444.

• Show yourself a Christian by suffering without murmuring. In patience possess your soul — they lose nothing who gain Christ.
  • Samuel Rutherford, p. 444.

• In your patience ye are strong.
  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning, p. 444.

• Never think that God's delays are God's denials. Hold on! hold fast! hold out! Patience is genius.
  • Count De Buffon, p. 444.

• Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh;
  Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear;
  To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh;
  Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.
  • George Croly, p. 444.

Unsourced

• Abused patience turns to fury.
  • Thomas Fuller

• All command patience, but none can endure to suffer.
  • Thomas Fuller

• If we could have a little patience, we should escape much mortification; time takes away as much as it gives.
  • Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné

• Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.
  • Alan Watts

• Never think that God's delays are God's denials. Hold on; hold fast; hold out. Patience is genius.
  • Buffon

• No school is more necessary to children than patience, because either the will must be broken in childhood or the heart in old age.
  • Richter

• Patience is a bitter plant but it has sweet fruit.
  • German proverb

• Patience is the support of weakness; impatience is the ruin of strength.
  • Colton

• Patience is the virtue of asses.
  • French proverb

• Patience with others is Love, Patience with self is Hope, Patience with God is Faith.
  • Adel Bestavros

• Pulling at an olive won't make it ripen faster.
  • Italian proverb

• We usually learn to wait only when we have no longer anything to wait for.
  • Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

• Patience is the universal equalizer in life between now and eternity.
  • Jesse Gause