Patience. Fortitude. Perseverance
Patience and posset drink cure all maladies.
Patience is a plaster for all sores.
We trace this proverb in an exquisite passage from “honest old Decker,” as Hazlitt fondly calls him.
“Duke. What comfort do you find in being so calm?
Candido. That which green wounds receive from sovereign balm.
Patience, my lord! why, ’tis the soul of peace;
Of all the virtues ’tis nearest kin to heaven:
It makes men look gods. The best of men
That e’er wore earth about him was a sufferer,
A soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit—
The first true gentleman that ever breathed.
The stock of patience, then, cannot be poor;
All it desires it has: what award more?
It is the greatest enemy to strife
That can be, for it doth embrace all wrongs,
And so chains up lawyers’ and women’s tongues.
’Tis the perpetual prisoner’s liberty—
His walks and orchards; ’tis the bondslave’s freedom,
And makes him seem proud of his iron chain,
As though he wore it more for state than pain;
It is the beggar’s music, and thus sings—
Although their bodies beg, their souls are kings.
O my dread liege! it is the sap of bliss
Bears us aloft, makes men and angels kiss;
And last of all, to end a household strife,
It is the honey ’gainst a waspish wife.”
“Patience, time, and money overcome everything” (Italian).277 “He who does not tire, tires adversity” (French).278 “A stout heart breaks ill luck” (Spanish).279 “The remedy for hard times is to have patience” (Arab).
Blaw the wind ne’er sae fast, it will lown at the last.—Scotch.
After a storm comes a calm.
“After rain comes fine weather” (French).280
The longest day will have an end.
Time and the hour run through the longest day.
Be the day ne’er so long, at last comes even song.281
“The day will be long, but there will be an end to it,”282 said Damiens of that dreadful day which was to witness his death by tortures which are the eternal disgrace of the French monarchy.
When one door shuts another opens.
When baffled in one direction a man of energy will not despair, but will find another way to his object.
There is more than one yew bow in Chester.
A’ the keys of the country hang na in ae belt.—Scotch.
“There are hills beyond Pentland, and streams beyond Forth;
If there’s lairds in the lowlands, there’s chiefs in the north;
There are wild duinewassels three thousand times three,
Will cry hoich for the bonnet of Bonny Dundee!”
It is a sore battle from which none escape.
One may suffer a great loss, and yet not be totally ruined.
There’s as good fish in the sea as ever was caught.
A consolatory reflection for those who have missed a good haul. The question is, will they have industry and skill to do better another time? “If I have lost the rings, here are the fingers still,” is a stout-hearted saying of the Italians and Spaniards.283
He that weel bides weel betides.—Scotch.
He that waits patiently comes off well at last, for “All comes right for him who can wait” (French).284 “Sit down and dangle your legs, and you will see your revenge” (Italian);285 that is, time will bring you reparation and satisfaction. “The world is his who has patience” (Italian).286 “The world belongs to the phlegmatic” (Italian).287 “Have patience, Cossack; thou wilt come to be hetman” (Russian).
Set a stout heart to a stae brae [a steep hill side].—Scotch.
Set hard heart against hard hap.
Go about a difficult business resolutely; confront adversity with fortitude.
“Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito
Quam tua te fortuna sinit.”
That you may not be easily discouraged, the French remind you that “One may go far after he is tired.”288
He that tholes [endures] overcomes.—Scotch.
The toughest skin holds longest out.—Cumberland.
“He conquers who sticks in his saddle” (Italian).289 “Hard pounding, gentlemen,” said Wellington at Waterloo; “but we will see who will pound the longest.” “Perseverance kills the game” (Spanish).290
Constant dropping wears the stone.291
A mouse in time may bite in two a cable.
“With time and straw medlars ripen” (French).292 “With time a mulberry leaf becomes satin” (Chinese).
A rolling stone gathers no moss.
This is an exact rendering of an ancient Greek adage, which is repeated with little variation in most modern languages. The Italians say, “A tree often transplanted is never loaded with fruit.”293
A man may bear till his back breaks.
All lay load on the willing horse.
Patience may be abused. “Through much enduring come things that cannot be endured” (Latin).294 “Make thyself a sheep, and the wolf is ready” (Russian). “Make yourself an ass, and you’ll have every man’s sack on your back” (German).295 “If you let them lay the calf on your back it will not be long before they clap on the cow” (Italian).296 “Who lets one sit on his shoulders shall presently have him sit on his head” (German).297 “The horse that pulls at the collar is always getting the whip” (French).298
Daub yourself with honey, and you’ll be covered with flies.
“The gentle ewe is sucked by every lamb” (Italian).299
Footnotes
277 Pazienza, tempo e denari vincono ogni cosa.
278 Qui ne se lasse pas lasse l’adversité.
279 Buen corazon quebranta mala ventura.
280 Après la pluie vient le beau temps.
281 Il n’est si long jour qui ne vienne à vêpres. Non vien di che non venga sera.
282 La journée sera longue, mais elle finira.
283 Se ben ho perso l’anello, ho pur anche le dite. Si se perdieron los anillos, aqui quedaron los dedillos.
284 Tout vient à point à qui sait attendre.
285 Siedi e sgambetta, vedrai la tua vendetta.
286 Il mondo è di chi ha pazienza.
287 Il mondo è dei flemmatici.
288 On va loin après qu’on est las.
289 Vince chi riman in sella.
290 Porfia mata la caza.
291 Gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed sæpe cadendo.
292 Avec du temps et de la paille les nèfles mûrissent.
293 Albero spesso traspiantato mai di frutti è caricato.
294 Patiendo multa veniunt quæ neques pati.—Publius Syrus.
295 Wer sich zum Esel macht, dem will jeder seinen Sack auflegen.
296 Se ti lasci metter in spalla il vitello, quindi a poco ti metteran la vacca.
297 Wer sich auf der Achsel sitzen lässt, dem sitzt man nachher auf dem Kopf.
298 On touche toujours sur le cheval qui tire.
299 Pecora mansueta d’ogni agnello è tettata.