Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
[La patience est amère, mais son fruit est doux.]
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) French philosopher and writer
Julie, or the New Heloise [Julie ou la Nouvelle Héloïse], Part 1, Letter 46 (from Julie) (1761) [tr. Stewart / Vaché]
(Source)
Sometimes mis-cited to his Émile (1762). The sentiment is not necessarily original to Rousseau; the line is also credited to Aristotle, an ancient Chinese proverb, an ancient Persian proverb, etc.
The cited translation is from a newer source, but that way of wording it is extant by 1873. Another translation:Patience is exceeding bitter; but its fruits are most delightfully sweet.
[tr. Kenrick (1784)]
Quotations about:
putting up with
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
Men are born for the sake of each other. So either teach or tolerate.
[Οἱ ἄνθρωποι γεγόνασιν ἀλλήλων ἕνεκεν: ἢ δίδασκε οὖν ἢ φέρε.]
Marcus Aurelius (AD 121–180) Roman emperor (161–180), Stoic philosopher
Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 8, ch. 59 (8.59) (AD 161-180) [tr. Hammond (2006)]
(Source)
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:All men are made one for another: either then teach them better, or bear with them.
[tr. Casaubon (1634), 8.56]Men are born to be serviceable to one another, therefore either Reform the World, or bear with it.
[tr. Collier (1701); Collier/Zimmern (1887)]Men were formed for each other. Teach them better, then, or bear with them.
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]Men were born for the service and benefit of each other. Eitehr teach them this obvious truth, or bear with their ignorance.
[tr. Graves (1792), 8.57]Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them then, or bear with them.
[tr. Long (1862)]Men exist for one another. Teach them then, or bear with them.
[tr. Rendall (1898)]Men were created the one for the other. Teach them better then, or bear with them.
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]Mankind have been created for the sake of one another. Either instruct therefore or endure.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]Men have come into the world for the sake of one another. Either instruct them then or bear with them.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]Men exist for each other. Then either improve them, or put up with them.
[tr. Staniforth (1964)]Human beings are here for the sake of one another; either instruct them, then, or put up with them.
[tr. Hard (1997 ed.)]People exist for one another. You can instruct or endure them.
[tr. Hays (2003)][Human beings have come into the world for the sake of one another; either instruct them, then, or put up with them.
[tr. Hard (2011 ed.)]Men were created for one another; either teach them, or endure them.
[ed. Taplin (2016)]
A sense of duty is useful in work but offensive in personal relations. People wish to be liked, not to be endured with patient resignation.
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 10 “Is Happiness Still Possible?” (1930)
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He is not well-bred, that cannot bear Ill-Breeding in others.
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard Improved (1748 ed.)
(Source)
This is sometimes noted as a restatement of a phrase in the introduction to Thomas Fuller's Gnomologia, (1732), but that reference to "well-bred People" doesn't seem to match the sentiment here at all.
