"We have begun to learn tolerance, patience, and good will toward all men, even our enemies, for we look on them as sick people." – Big Book 
"Could we then foresee that troublesome people were to become our principal teachers of patience and tolerance?" – 12&12 
"But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” – Romans 8:25 
"Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop it." – Heraclitus
"Endeavor to be always patient of the faults and imperfections of others; for thou hast many faults and imperfections of thine own that require forbearance. If thou art not able to make thyself that which thou wishest, how canst thou expect to mold another in conformity to thy will?" – Thomas à Kempis 
"A man's patience is that whereby he bears evil with an even mind lest he abandon with an uneven mind the goods whereby he may advance to better things.” 
"Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind." – Leonardo da Vinci 
"Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them. Every day begin the task anew." – St. Francis de Sales 
"If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow." – Rainer Maria Rilke 
"Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come." – Robert H. Schuller 
"How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?” – William Shakespeare 
"It is far better to endure patiently a smart which nobody feels but yourself, than to commit a hasty action whose evil consequences will extend to all connected with you." – Charlotte Brontë 
"How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience, would have achieved success." – Elbert Hubbard 
"Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better to take things as they come along, with patience and equanimity." – Carl Jung 
"Patience with God involves faith, and to exercise faith is to surrender final control of one’s life. To lack faith is to give in to one’s desire for control. So our patience with God will only be as strong as our ability to overcome this desire and surrender every aspect of our lives." – James S. Spiegel
"This too shall pass." – AA Slogan
"Patience means waiting for people, places, and things beyond our control. Patience means letting go and trusting that a Higher Power is in control." – Night Light
"Impatience with others only generates their impatience with me." – One Day at a Time in Al-Anon 
"In every situation, I am responsible for the effort and God is responsible for the outcome. I can ‘Let Go and Let God’ by humbly repeating, ‘Thy will, not mine, be done.' Patience and persistence in seeking his will for me will free me from the pain of selfish expectations." – A.A.’s Daily Reflections 
"A forgiving heart fosters the virtues of tolerance and patience, which in turn further the ability to accept." – PTP123 
"Patience adapts us to wait well in situations making demands on our time which we find difficult to bear either because of their duration or their recurrent nature." – PTP4 
For more PTP123 passages on patience, see pp. 26, 29, 30, 40, 41, 54, 204. For more PTP4, see pp. 23, 67, 72, 264, 265, 387; as corrective of anger, 73, 399, 401, 403, 424, 426; a virtue of omission, 402; defined, 401; level of, 125; natural capacity for, 74; relation to other virtues, 403, 404, 405; through the eyes of, 75, 400. For more Big Book and 12&12 passages, click on 164andmore.com and search patience and its cognates. On this site, see Can I Put You on Hold?, in Reflections.
To return to Practice These, please click on the link.