The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by

The American humorist and businessman Arnold H. Glasow, known for his sharp wit wrapped in timeless truths, once declared: “The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.” In this vivid image, he reminds us that all worthy things require time and endurance to ripen. To rush the process, to demand instant results, is to destroy the very outcome we seek. His metaphor of the egg is simple, yet it contains the ancient wisdom of both nature and life itself.

The egg is a symbol of potential, fragile and hidden. Within it lies life, but only if nurtured with warmth, waiting, and protection. To smash the egg in haste is to ruin the miracle inside, to gain nothing but fragments. So it is with every endeavor in life: success, love, knowledge, and creation all require the patience to allow the unseen to grow. Impatience kills what patience would have brought forth in abundance.

History provides us with luminous examples of this truth. Consider the journey of Nelson Mandela, who spent twenty-seven years in prison. The impatient might have cried for violence or vengeance, but Mandela’s patient endurance transformed him into a symbol of freedom and reconciliation. When at last he was released, the time of hatching had come — and South Africa was reborn through his leadership. Had he sought to “smash the egg” too soon, the outcome would have been chaos, not renewal.

In the realm of science, the same principle is seen in the work of Charles Darwin. For decades he gathered evidence, observed creatures, and refined his theory of evolution. He did not rush to publish, for he knew that premature proclamation would only weaken his case. At last, when the time was ripe, he unveiled his findings, and the world was forever changed. The patient hatching of his work gave us one of the greatest revelations of human understanding.

The wisdom of Glasow’s words also applies to the everyday lives of common people. A farmer must wait for the crops to grow; to pull them from the soil too early is to reap emptiness. A parent must wait for the child to mature; to demand wisdom from youth is to break the fragile growth of innocence. In all things, patience is the guardian of fulfillment.

We must also understand that patience is not passivity. The hen does not abandon her egg but sits upon it faithfully, providing warmth day after day. So too must we act with diligence while we wait, nurturing our goals, preparing ourselves, and tending carefully to what is entrusted to us. Patience is active endurance, not idle neglect.

Therefore, O children of wisdom, inscribe Arnold H. Glasow’s lesson upon your hearts: “The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.” Do not be deceived by haste, for haste is the enemy of fruition. Nurture your dreams as the hen nurtures her egg, with faith and constancy. When the time is right, life will break forth in its fullness. Let your patience be your strength, and you shall taste the harvest that impatience could never deliver.