Quotes About Patience

The survival of humankind depends on our ability to stop rushing.

Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the whole earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future. Live the actual moment. Only this actual moment is life.

Understanding is the other name of love. If you don't understand, you can't love. If you don't understand your son, you can't love him. If you don't understand your mother, you can't love her. To offer understanding means to offer love. Without understanding, the more we "love," the more we make ourselves and others suffer.

If while washing dishes, we think only of the cup of tea that awaits us, thus hurrying to get the dishes out of the way as if they were a nuisance, then we are not "washing the dishes to wash the dishes." What's more, we are not alive during the time we are washing the dishes. In fact we are completely incapable of realizing the miracle of life while standing at the sink. If we can't wash the dishes, the chances are we won't be able to drink our tea either.

When you plant a tree, if it doesn't grow well, you don't blame the tree.

To commit to another person is to embark on a very adventurous journey. There is no one right person who will make it easier. You must be very wise and very patient to keep your love alive so it will last for a long time.

There is no reason why mindfulness should be different from focusing all one's attention on one's work, to be alert and to be using one's best judgment. During the moment one is consulting, resolving, and dealing with whatever arises, a calm heart and self-control are necessary if one is to obtain good results. Anyone can see that. If we are not in control of ourselves but instead let our impatience or anger interfere, then our work is no longer of any value.

If, in your mind, you think, "I wish this fellow would quit talking, so I could concentrate," you have already lost your mindfulness. But if you think, instead, "If he wishes to talk, I will answer, but I will continue in mindfulness, aware of the fact that we are walking along this path together, aware of what we say, I can continue to watch my breath as well.

Of course, you have the right to suffer, but as a practitioner, you do not have the right not to practice. We all need to be understood and loved, but the practice is not merely to expect understanding and love. It is to practice understanding and love. Please don't complain when no one seems to love or understand you. Make the effort to understand and love them better.

The Judge is before the door: he that cometh will come, and will not tarry: his reward is with him.

One of the great things about America is we should not judge until we know the facts.

I could be less impatient with people. I sometimes judge by impressions.

I think a book should be judged 10 years later, after reading and re-reading it.

A lot of authors, judging by their list, will put anything out that they finish... That's the worst model I've heard of in my life. It's just idiotic. Why wouldn't you just wait for the good ones?

I like to do one film at a time. But sometimes, when projects get delayed for reasons beyond my control, I juggle more than one.

I want to wait for a project that will excite my creative juices.

No one's gonna give a damn in July if you lost a game in March.

People look at your CV and assume you jump from job to job to job. They don't see the months in between where you're waiting for the phone to ring, or you're waiting to hear about things.

I'm gonna give them the advice that I always took myself, that it's better to get to know somebody before you jump into the sack with them. Because then if you jump into the sack and fall in love, and you liked them already, you're home free.

You don't want to jump in on your first day on a show and start improv-ing and changing the show.

It is best not to swat at the fly's starting position, but rather to aim a bit forward of that to anticipate where the fly is going to jump when it first sees your swatter.

When you're working on a project that's going to take six years, you're weird from the jump.

You try to figure out the best way to throw the shot put, or the perfect way to long jump, and you don't ever get it. You just chip away, chip away, chip away as time goes on.

When something is so hot, I don't want to just jump on it right away. I want to take it home and make sure I give it my best shot.