A certain amount of impatience may be useful to stimulate and

Hear the solemn words of Joseph B. Wirthlin: “A certain amount of impatience may be useful to stimulate and motivate us to action. However, I believe that a lack of patience is a major cause of the difficulties and unhappiness in the world today.” In these words, the wisdom of the ages resounds. For the spirit of man is often torn between fire and stillness, between the swift urge to seize and the quiet call to endure. Impatience may stir us from sloth, but when it rules our hearts unchecked, it becomes a tyrant, leading us into sorrow and ruin.

The ancients spoke often of this dual nature. Fire is both a gift and a danger: it warms the hearth but also burns the house. So too is impatience—a spark that can light the torch of achievement, but if ungoverned, it consumes peace, relationships, and even nations. Patience, by contrast, is water for the soul. It cools the fire, tempers anger, and allows time for wisdom to ripen. In this balance lies the teaching of Wirthlin: to recognize the usefulness of impatience in small measure, yet to revere patience as the guardian of happiness and harmony.

Consider the tale of Alexander the Great. His boundless drive and restless impatience carried him across the known world, conquering cities and kingdoms in a single lifetime. Yet what followed? His empire, though vast, crumbled after his death, for it was built on haste and not on enduring foundations. Contrast this with the Romans, who, though often slow and deliberate, built roads, laws, and cities that endured for centuries. Here we see the truth: impatience may win battles, but only patience builds civilizations that last.

In our own time, too, we find examples. Think of the hurried decisions that lead to wars, financial collapses, or broken families. How often do people rush into choices driven by impatience, only to find themselves ensnared in regret? A business hastily built without planning falters; a word spoken in anger breaks a bond that years of love had nurtured. And yet, where patience is chosen, even in trial, peace has a chance to grow. Nelson Mandela endured 27 years in prison with patience, and from that endurance, he became the healer of a nation.

Wirthlin’s words thus teach us that the root of much unhappiness lies not in fate, but in the failure to wait. When man insists on fruit before its season, he eats bitterness; when he forces the river to flow faster, he drowns in the flood. But the one who waits upon time, who bears with courage and hope, discovers that the world unfolds in harmony when not forced. Patience is not weakness—it is strength clothed in humility, the mastery of the self against the storms of desire.

What, then, is the lesson for us? Be swift when the moment demands it—let a little impatience stir your courage when action cannot be delayed. But more often, let patience be your companion. In anger, wait before speaking. In ambition, wait before leaping. In hardship, wait before despairing. For in the waiting, understanding comes; in the stillness, wisdom speaks.

Practical actions lie before you: breathe before you answer in anger, think before you act in haste, and plan before you leap at opportunity. Teach your children the strength of patience, and remind yourself that all great things—whether the growing of a tree, the healing of a wound, or the building of a life—take time. Each moment of patience is a seed of peace planted in the soil of your soul.

Thus let the words of Joseph B. Wirthlin endure as a guiding star: a little impatience may awaken us, but only patience will preserve us. Choose it, cultivate it, and you shall find that many of the world’s troubles dissolve, replaced by harmony, endurance, and the deep joy that comes from walking in step with the rhythm of life itself.