- This article is about the state of being. For other uses, see Patience
(disambiguation).
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Patience is the ability to endure waiting, delay, or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset, or to persevere
calmly when faced with difficulties.
Impatience is an opposite of patience.
Patience from a religious perspective
Patience is described as a virtue in religion or
spiritual practices.
In the Hebrew Bible:
- "The patient man shows much good sense, but the quick-tempered (impatient) man displays folly at its height."
(Proverbs 14:29, NAB)
- "An ill-tempered (impatient) man stirs up strife, but a patient man allays discord." (Proverbs 15:18, NAB)
- "A patient man is better than a warrior, and he who rules his temper, than he who takes a city." (Proverbs 16:32)
- "Better is the patient spirit than the lofty spirit. Do not in spirit become quickly discontented, for discontent lodges in
the bosom of a fool." (Ecclesiastes 7:8-9, NAB)
In the Christian religion, patience is one of the most valuable virtues of
life. Increasing patience is viewed as the work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian who has accepted the gift of salvation. Christianity's value of patience as a moral is evidenced in the following
bible references. In the Christian Bible, patience is considered an intirigal part of the fruit of the spirit as said in the
verse Galatians 5:22.
As Paul explained in his first
letter to the Christian community at Corinth, love is the greatest virtue in life and "Love is patient, love is kind. It is not
jealous, is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it
does not brood over injury, ... It bears all things, ... endures all things. Love never fails." (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NAB)
In the first letter Paul wrote to the Christian community at
Thessalonica, he urged them to be patient: "We urge you, brothers, ... be patient with all.
See that no one returns evil for evil; rather, always seek what is good for each other and for all." (1 Thessalonians 5:14-15,
NAB)
The Epistle of James advises: "Be patient,
therefore, brothers, ... See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives
the early and the late rains. You too must be patient." (James 5:7-11, NAB)
In the Book of Sirach (which is accepted as part of the biblical canon by Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, but not by most Protestants), it is
explained that patience is a quality of God: "What is man, of what worth is he?
The good, the evil in him, what are these? The sum of a man's days is great if it reaches a hundred years: Like a drop of sea
water, like a grain of sand, so are these few years among the days of eternity. That is why the LORD is patient with men and
showers upon them his mercy." (Sirach 18:6-9, NAB)
While patience is not one of the traditional biblical three theological virtues
nor one of the traditional four cardinal virtues, it is one of the seven virtues.
Patience in Islam is one of the best and most valuable virtues of life. Through
patience, a Muslim believes that an individual can grow closer to God and thus attain true peace.
It is also stressed in Islam, that God is with those who are patient, more specifically during suffering.
Some of the verses about patience
"Seek Allah's help with patient perseverance and prayer. It is indeed hard except for those who
are humble." (2:45)
"Oh you who believe! Seek help with patient perseverance and prayer, for God is with those who patiently persevere."
(2:153)
"Be sure We shall test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods, lives, and the fruits of your toil.
"But give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere. Those who say, when afflicted with calamity, 'To Allah we belong, and
to Him is our return.' They are those on whom descend blessings from their Lord, and mercy. They are the ones who receive
guidance." (2:155-157)
"Oh you who believe! Persevere in patience and constancy. Vie in such perseverance, strengthen each other, and be pious, that
you may prosper." (3:200)
"And be steadfast in patience, for verily Allah will not suffer the reward of the righteous to perish." (11:115)
"Be patient, for your patience is with the help of Allah." (16:127)
"Patiently, then, persevere - for the Promise of Allah is true, and ask forgiveness for your faults, and celebrate the praises
of your Lord in the evening and in the morning." (40:55)
"No one will be granted such goodness except those who exercise patience and self-restraint, none but persons of the greatest
good fortune." (41:35)
"Verily man is in loss, except such as have faith, and do righteous deeds, and join together in the mutual enjoining of truth,
and of patience and constancy." (103:2-3)
"It is not righteousness that you turn your faces towards East or West. But it is righteousness to believe in Allah and the
Last Day, And the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; To spend of your substance, out of love for Him, For your kin, for
orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; To be steadfast in prayer And give in
charity; To fulfill the contracts which you have made; And to be firm and patient, in pain and adversity And throughout all
periods of panic. Such are the people of truth, the God-fearing. Qur'an 2:177
Through every difficulty there is relief. Verily, through every difficulty there is relief. Qur'an 94:5-6
Through every difficulty, God promises, there will be found relief upon its conclusion. Instead of wanting to skip challenging
times, and avoid them, God is teaching that the way to the easing, is THROUGH, the difficulty. It takes Patient Perseverance, or
enduring with a good spirit still in tact, in order to reap both the internal and external rewards of struggle.
The Muslim faith believes that without a good spirit while enduring, the struggle will not bear its full reward, thus,
Patiently persevering, striving and going forward, despite the difficulty, is the pinnacle of behavior during challenging
times.
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In Buddhism, patience (Skt.: kshanti;
Pali: khanti) is one of the "perfections" (paramitas) that a bodhisattva trains in and practices to realize
perfect enlightenment (bodhi).
Patience is recognized within Hinduism in the Bhagavad
Gita.
In both Hinduism and Buddhism there is a particular emphasis on meditation, aspects of which lead to a natural state of
mindfulness that is conducive to patient, effective and well-organised thought.
In Human, All Too Human, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche had this to say about patience:
- Being able to wait is so hard that the greatest poets did not disdain to make the inability to wait the theme of their
poetry. Thus [William] Shakespeare in his Othello, Sophocles in his Ajax, who, as the oracle suggests, might not have thought his
suicide necessary, if only he had been able to let his feeling cool for one day more. He probably would have outfoxed the
terrible promptings of his wounded vanity and said to himself: "Who, in my situation, has never once taken a sheep for a warrior?
Is that so monstrous? On the contrary, it is something universally human." Ajax might have consoled himself thus.
- Passion will not wait. The tragedy in the lives of great men often lies not in their conflict with the times and the
baseness of their fellow men, but rather in their inability to postpone their work for a year or two. They cannot wait.
- In every duel, the advising friends have to determine whether the parties involved might be able to wait a while longer.
If they cannot, then a duel is reasonable, since each of the parties says to himself: "Either I continue to live, and the other
must die at once, or vice versa." In that case, to wait would be to continue suffering the horrible torture of offended honor in
the presence of the offender. And this can be more suffering than life is worth.
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