We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.

Think not disdainfully of death, but look on it with favor; for even dearth is one of the things that Nature wills.

Great is he, who conquers the frightful. Sublime is he, who, while succumbing to it, fears it not.

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.

Two of the hardest tests in life: The patience to wait for the right moment and the courage to accept whatever you encounter.

You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.

Almost every significant breakthrough is the result of a courageous break with traditional ways of thinking.

No man will ever bring out the Presidency the reputation which carries him into it.

A student is not a container you have to fill, but a torch you have to light up.

The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man.

If you don’t know, the thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn.

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.

Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets.

In school, you are given the lesson first. One the street, you're given the mistake first and then it's up to you to find the lesson, if you ever find it.

If you want a new idea, read an old book.

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.

A patient man will eat ripe fruit.

With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown.

No thing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.

Remember that you ought to behave in life as you would at a banquet. As something is being passed around it comes to you; stretch out your hand, take a portion of it politely. It passes on; do not detain it. Or it has not come to you yet; do not project your desire to meet it, but wait until it comes in front of you. So act toward children, so act toward a wife, so toward office, so toward wealth.

Be patient where you sit in the dark. The dawn is coming.

Real excellence does not come cheaply. A certain price must be paid in terms of practice, patience, and persistence—natural ability notwithstanding.

Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how we behave while we’re waiting.