We are willing to acknowledge our shortcomings, we are willing to be punished for them, we will patiently suffer much on their account, but we become impatient if we are required to overcome them.

[Man läßt sich seine Mängel vorhalten, man läßt sich strafen, man leidet manches um ihrer willen mid Geduld; aber ungeduldig wird man, wenn man sie ablegen soll.]

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet, statesman, scientist

Elective Affinities [Die Wahlverwandtschaften], Part 2, ch. 5, “From Ottilie’s Journal [Aus Ottiliens Tagebuche]” (1809) [tr. Hollingdale (1971)]
    (Source)

(Source (German)). Alternate translation:

People will allow their faults to be shown them; they will let themselves be punished for them; they will patiently endure many things because of them; they only become impatient when they have to lay them aside.
[Niles ed. (1872)]