“No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.”
“If you would cure anger, do not feed it. Say to yourself: 'I used to be angry every day; then every other day; now only every third or fourth day.' When you reach thirty days offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the gods.”
“Faced with pain, you will discover the power of endurance. If you are insulted, you will discover patience. In time, you will grow to be confident that there is not a single impression that you will not have the moral means to tolerate.”
“No great thing is created suddenly.”
“Nothing great comes into being all at once, for that is not the case even with a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me now, ‘I want a fig,’ I’ll reply, ‘That takes time.”
“Is then the fruit of a fig-tree not perfect suddenly and in one hour, and would you possess the fruit of a man's mind in so short a time and so easily?”
“But first consider how much more sparing and patient of hardship the poor are than we.”
“Nature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.”
“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”
“Nature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.”