We’d all like to think of ourselves as calm, patient, unflappable people with the ability to wait quietly when need be. But the truth is, we all experience situations that make us feel anxious and impatient.
Whether we’re anticipating some potentially life-changing news or just sitting in standstill traffic, every one of us has times when we itch so badly for something to happen that the waiting feels almost unbearable. If life came with a remote control, we’d press the fast-forward button to find out what happens.
It’s in these times that we have to remind ourselves faster isn’t always better. As the saying goes, good things come to those who wait. If we rush through our lives to get to the “important” bits, we’ll miss out on some truly beautiful moments along the way.
Patience is also crucial within our relationships. The ability to keep our cool and show understanding when we feel annoyed or even angry with the people we love doesn’t only preserve our relationships; it transforms them.
So the next time we’re feeling “itchy,” here are 16 quotes to remind us all how far a little bit of patience can go.
The secret of patience is to do something else in the meantime.Croft M. Pentz
Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.Joyce Meyer
The hasty stroke goes oft astray.J.R.R. Tolkien
Be patient towards all that is unsolved in your heart and [try] to love the questions themselves … Do not now seek answers which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now.Rainer Maria Rilke
One moment of patience may ward off great disaster. One moment of impatience may ruin a whole life.Chinese proverb
[The river] knew now where it was going, and it said to itself, “There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”A.A. Milne
Patience is bitter but its fruit is sweet.Jean-Jacques Rousseau
There are times to stay put, and what you want will come to you, and there are times to go out into the world and find such a thing for yourself.Lemony Snicket
He that can have patience can have what he will.Benjamin Franklin
We can make our minds so like still water that beings gather about us that they may see … and so live for a moment with a clearer, perhaps even with a fiercer life because of our quiet.William Butler Yeats
Patience is power. Patience is not an absence of action; rather, it is "timing"; it waits on the right time to act, for the right principles and in the right way.Fulton J. Sheen
Things take the time they take. Don't worry.Mary Oliver
When you wear the weed of impatience in your heart instead of the flower Acceptance-with-Joy, you will always find your enemies get an advantage over you.Hannah Hurnard
What you’re missing is that the path itself changes you.Julien Smith
The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.Leo Tolstoy
Trust the hours. Haven’t they carried you everywhere, up to now?Galway Kinnell
Featured image credit: GoodStudio/ Shutterstock
