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PATIENCE

 

Know that patience is the one virtue which gives greatest assurance of our reaching perfection (cf. Jas. 1:4), and, while we must have patience with others, we must also have it with ourselves.  Those who aspire to the pure love of God need to be more patient with themselves than with others.  We have to endure our own imperfections in order to attain perfection; I say ‘endure patiently’ not ‘love’ or ‘embrace’; humility is nurtured through such endurance.  [Letter to Mademoiselle de Soulfour]

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Have patience with all the world, but first of all with yourself. (Letters to Persons in the World, VI, 17)

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The drones make more noise and are in a greater hurry than the bees, but they do not make the honey. (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 10)

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Things which grow in one day, decay in another. (Letters to Persons in Religion, I, 6)

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Those who aim at the love of God need patience with themselves even more than with others. (The Spirit of St. François de Sales, IX, 1)

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The virtue of patience is the one which most assures us of perfection. (Letters to Persons in the World, I, 5)

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We always do a thing quickly enough when we do it well. (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 10)

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The angels have a care for our salva­tion and procure it with diligence, yet they do not have solicitude, worry and anxiety. (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 10)

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We must suffer with patience the delay in our perfection, while ever cheerfully doing what we can for our advancement therein.  (Spiritual Conferences, 10)

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Let us await our advancement with patience, and instead of disquieting our­selves because we have so little profited in the time past, let us diligently endeavor to do better in the time to come. (Treatise on the Love of God, Book 9, Chapter 7)

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Have patience to walk with short steps till you have wings to fly. (LR III 19 )

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Do not be eager about your work. (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 10)

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Eagerness is the mother-imperfection of all imperfections. (Letters to Persons in Religion, I, 2)

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We shall always have quite soon enough what we desire whenever it pleases God to give it to us. (Spiritual Conferences, 10)

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Be patient not only in regard to the substance of the afflictions which befall you, but also in regard to the accidental inconveniences which are attached to them. (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 13)

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It is a sorrowful thing to see how little we imitate the patience of our Saviour. (Spiritual Conferences, 21)

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