The collection / 2,550 fragments
Explore passages mentioning patience, patient. Topic suggestions use transparent word matching, not scholarly classification. Reviewed editorial meanings may also connect entries to this topic; those assignments are labelled separately from word matching.
Meaning: A substantial task may need repeated effort rather than one attempt. The oak and single blow picture the scale of the work, without guaranteeing that repetition alone will succeed or giving instructions for cutting down a tree.
Meaning: A long-standing hurt or dispute may be harder to resolve than a recent one. The old sore gives persistent trouble a bodily image.
Meaning: Competing for something can tempt a person to act before judging whether the next commitment is worthwhile. The saying favours a pause before outbidding, without prescribing a purchase strategy or making every competitive response unwise.
Meaning: A worthwhile result may require effort or difficulty. The saying encourages commitment but overstates the connection if it treats suffering as necessary for every gain.
Meaning: Patience is valuable but not equally available in every person or situation. Recognise the effort it may require instead of assuming that everyone can wait calmly under the same pressure.
Meaning: Patience can soften the discomfort of delay or difficulty. The plaster image presents it as a help, while the claim that it treats every sore is an exaggeration.
Meaning: The phrase praises patience by comparing it with Job. The biblical association supplies an image of endurance through suffering rather than a measured degree of calmness.
Meaning: Sustained effort can bring an elusive task to completion. The hunting image presents the desired result as something reached through persistence.
Meaning: When a decision can wait, step away and reconsider it after a pause. Distance from the immediate pressure may help you see the options more clearly.
Meaning: Repeated small savings can add up. The daily pin and yearly coin turn an apparently minor act into an image of accumulation over time.
Meaning: A very demanding ambition can require sustained attention. The wish to become Pope gives the saying an extreme example of a goal absorbing a person’s effort.
Meaning: An unpolished beginning does not settle what someone or something may become. The rough-looking young horse allows for development and care, without guaranteeing future success or excusing problems that need attention now.
Meaning: The saying encourages bearing a present difficulty by imagining a worse one ahead. A careful reading keeps perspective without making future fear a reason to tolerate harm.
Meaning: Repeated disruption can make it harder for something to establish itself. The transplanted plant gives continuity a vivid image.
Meaning: Different actions and experiences belong to different moments. The saying encourages attention to timing instead of expecting every purpose to be served at once.
Meaning: Continuing a search can make earlier effort useful when something worthwhile is found. The saying encourages persistence, without guaranteeing success or making it wrong to stop an unproductive search.
Meaning: A steady pace can make room for dependable progress. The saying values care over mere speed, without proving that slow work is always accurate or that a prompt response cannot be well considered.
Meaning: A measured pace can help someone proceed carefully. The saying favours steadiness, while overstating certainty if it makes slow progress a guarantee.
Meaning: A willing contributor may not need additional pressure. The freely moving horse warns that unnecessary urging can strain cooperation, while still allowing clear expectations, constructive feedback and attention to whether help is needed.
Meaning: A larger task can be approached through successive manageable stages. The ladder image values gradual progress, without promising that every sequence leads to the intended result or that a person must keep advancing without rest.
Meaning: Bearing a temporary difficulty can sometimes lead to relief. The saying values endurance while leaving open whether tolerating the situation is actually helpful.
Meaning: A worthwhile result may require sustained effort rather than expectation alone. Sweat and sweetness connect work with a hoped-for benefit, without proving that everyone who works hard will receive a fair reward.
Meaning: Small repeated efforts can gradually overcome a larger obstacle. Notice cumulative progress rather than assuming that an action is useless because one attempt has little visible effect.
Meaning: The truth of a matter may be difficult to reach. The well pictures knowledge lying below the readily visible surface.