Patience is even more of a passive virtue than courage. You know the proverb ‘Haste makes waste’. A hasty man or women can never find out the truth of things. They look only at the surface. They are easily carried away by the appearance of things.
When hasty person makes a mistake, he naturally feels for it afterwards; but he cannot undo the consequences of his hasty conduct.
Whoever wants to lead a higher life must cultivate patience. He must possess an open mind; and be slow to arrive at conclusions. The patient man resolutely declines to be guided by what is immediate, near at hand. In thought, he declines to form his judgments from the external appearance of things. In action, he declines to be led away by the pains and pleasures of the moment. Therefore, when joys come, he is not elated; when sorrows befall, he does not lose heart; these are just the two marked characteristics of a great man.
An old proverb says, “The patient man will rule the world.” It is perfectly true. At any rate, no impatient person ever achieved anything great in life. When you take things patiently, look at difficulties calmly in the face, half their power to overwhelm you is gone. Patience is the greatest ally of courage. He that possesses these two virtues need never despair of succeeds.