RESEARCH PAPER

PATIENCE

APRIL 20, 2022

AUBREY JOYCE A. SALAS
BSA 4
 I. Introduction

“Patience is a virtue.” – a proverb we are all familiar with but where did this famous
proverb originates? What does it really mean? Are there ways or steps to develop patience? And
lastly, what does the Bible teach us about patience?

Patience as defined by many is “waiting without complaint” but with this definition
alone, not complaining carries no particular virtue. To demonstrate this, suppose one is waiting
for his coffee and while waiting, he reads a book, eats cake, and converse with other people. We
wouldn’t say that, simply because he is not complaining he exhibits patience. According to
James S. Spiegel, a professor of Philosophy and Religion, ‘Something else must be required to
make one’s lack of complaint virtuous. That something is discomfort.’ This is because if a person
faces discomfort and we find her refusal to complain remarkable and as a result we regard her as
patient (e.g., waiting for internet connection to resume while you are working in a rush project).
So as to improve the definition above, “to be patient is to endure discomfort without complaint”.

“Patience is a hard word to live”, indeed because this calls into play some other virtues,
specifically, self-control, humility, and generosity.

II. BODY
i. Origins of “Patience is a Virtue”

Like most of the famous sayings we know, the original writer/author of “Patience
is a Virtue” is hard to pin down. Some philosophers and professors connect it to Cato the Elder
in the third or fourth century. Others attribute it to The Canterbury Tales which was written
during the 14th century, but the widely accepted one is that the line was written by English poet
William Langland in around 1360, from a poem called Piers Plowman which is about a man in
search of faith. One line from the poem states that “patience is a fair virtue”.

ii. Cato the Elder

Dating it back to third or fourth century, The Distichs of Cato, also known as
Cato. This was a Latin of proverbial wisdom and morality, by an unknown author from
the 3rd or 4th century AD, which was the most popular Latin textbooks at the time.
 It was from an unknown author but people believed that this book was written by
Cato the Elder, in his works there is a line that reads “Of human virtues, patience is most
great” – a line that is so wise but it seems that Cato often gets overlooked as the author of
this.

iii. Piers Plowman

This is by far the most accepted and known origin of the proverb, “Patience is a
virtue”. Piers Plowman is a late 14th-century dream-vision written by William Langland.
The poem is a sequence of 22 dream-visions, called passus which means step in Latin.
The poem is an exploration of Christian faith, as the narrator strives to uncover how to
live a good Christian life. It is an allegory, the characters are symbolic and satirical.

The main characters in this poem include Truth (God), Wrong (Devil), Holy
Church, Thought, Wit, Study, Conscience, Liar, Reason, Dowel (do well), Dobet (do
better) and Dobest (do best), plus the seven deadly sins. The characters are lead on a
quest by Piers Plowman. Plowman is chosen as the guide due to his state of moral
excellence and in one line of the poem it reads “patience is a fair virtue”.

iv. The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories by Geoffrey Chaucer that was first
published in 1400. This is another series of stories detailing virtue’s place in one’s life.

In The Canterbury Tales, we find a similar quote, “Patience is a high

virtue.” While these pilgrimages were marked by virtuous behavior, it is made clear that
the practice of patience made for a more contented journey, even in the face of self-
denial.

v. Biblical Teaching

Patience is not often easy to demonstrate. Oftentimes, we can even feel that our
impatience is a righteous anger in the face of irritations and trials. It’s what makes us
human, but we are called to trust God’s timing and love. The Bible praises patience and
lists it as part of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22 – 23) “But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23  gentleness, self-control;
 against such things there is no law.” That is built up in us when we follow Christ (1
Thessalonians 5:14) “And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the
fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.”

A prime example of being patient is the life of Christ. We know that Jesus’
disciples were sometimes thickheaded, lazy, selfish and slow to believe. Even if we’re
only reading it, we can see how frustrating it must be to deal with them yet we don’t find
him railing at his disciples over their foolishness and stupidity but instead, he does
remark that his disciples are indeed selfish and slow to believe, or he asks rhetorically
how long they will fail to have faith in him, but these are always appropriate reminders
about just what was at stake for them.

Jesus’ refusal to complain about his irritating disciples can be described as an

exercise pf self-control. His refusal to complain also involves humility, the conscious
decision to lower himself by not exercising his right, as the holy man he was, to judge
and dismiss his friends because of their faults.

While the patience of Christ is exceptional in many respects, the basic features of
this virtue are surely the same wherever it appears. Patience involves such things as self-
control, humility, and generosity, all of which are themselves virtues. So one might say
that patience is a virtue because it's an exercise of several other virtues.

III. Three Steps to Develop Patience

Because our human nature is not inclined towards patience, we must make the
choice to build patience into our character.

1. Thank God and let God develop patience in you. As it is stated in Philippians
4:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 and 1 Peter 1:6. We are called to first give
thanks to God in all situations for his unwavering love and support.
2. Seek His purpose. We should allow God to put us through the hard times and
learn to pray through these trials. Sometimes we need to experience trials or
painful events so we can learn greater dependence on God.
3. Remember God’s promises. Romans 8:28 - “And we know that for those who
love God all things work together for good, for those who are called
 according to his purpose.”; reminds us that God works for the good of those
who love Him.
IV. Conclusion

As I’m writing this research paper, I learned a lot of things, that having to wait
without complaining, this itself is not really a virtue but waiting while experiencing
hardships or intolerable situations without complaining is. I’ve been impatient countless
of times in my life and I think that’s what makes me human but I can change my
character if I trust God and His timings. Being patient will not only bring blessings and
success but also will transform me as a better child of God and that alone is enough
motivation for me to develop this virtue.