Quotes on Patience

“How easy it is to repel and to wipe away every impression which is troublesome or unsuitable, and immediately to be in all tranquillity.”

“Be like the promontory against which the waves continually break, but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it.”

“Take away thy opinion, and then there is taken away the complaint, “I have been harmed.” Take away the complaint, “I have been harmed,” and the harm is taken away.”

“Nothing for me is too early nor too late, which is in due time for thee. Everything is fruit to me which thy seasons bring, O Nature.”

“Do not disturb thyself by thinking of the whole of thy life.”

“For nowhere either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble does a man retire than into his own soul”

“Consider that everything is opinion, and opinion is in thy power. Take away then, when thou choosest, thy opinion, and like a mariner who has doubled the promontory, thou wilt find calm, everything stable, and a waveless bay.”

“Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life.”

“Everything has two handles, the one by which it may be borne, the other by which it may not.”

“For if you once gain time and delay, you will more easily master yourself.”

“Remember that in life you ought to behave as at a banquet. Suppose that something is carried round and is opposite to you. Stretch out your hand and take a portion with decency.”

“For this reason, make life as a whole agreeable to yourself by banishing all worry about it.”

“Press on, therefore, as you have begun; perhaps you will be led to perfection, or to a point which you alone understand is still short of perfection.”

“I love a broad margin to my life.”

“Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.”

“Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises?”

“Let us spend one day as deliberately as Nature, and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito’s wing that falls on the rails.”

“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.”

“Hope is the thing with feathers / That perches in the soul, / And sings the tune without the words, / And never stops at all,”

“The tree which fills the arms grew from the tiniest sprout; the tower of nine storeys rose from a (small) heap of earth; the journey of a thousand li commenced with a single step.”

“Who can (make) the muddy water (clear)? Let it be still, and it will gradually become clear.”

“Do not be desirous to have things done quickly; do not look at small advantages. Desire to have things done quickly prevents their being done thoroughly.”