“The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach – waiting for a gift from the sea.” ― Anne Morrow Lindbergh

“Waiting for a gift from the sea” is a metaphor of practicing patience as its own reward, as virtue must be, for goodness’ sake. If inner strength and endurance are among all good things that come to those who wait, well, a gift from the sea is worth waiting for.

Have patience with all things, But, first of all with yourself.

— Saint Francis de Sales

Endurance is patience concentrated.

— Thomas Carlyle

If the ocean can calm itself, so you can you. We are both salt water mixed with air.

— Nayyirah Waheed

The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.

— Leo Tolstoy

Endurance is nobler than strength, and patience than beauty.

— John Ruskin

If patience is worth anything, it must endure to the end of time.

— Mahatma Gandhi

How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees? 

— William Shakespeare

A master of patience is master of everything else.

— George Savile

Patience is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping your gears.

— Barbara Johnson

Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness … It is far better to take things as they come along with patience and equanimity.

— Carl Jung

Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience.

— Hyman Rickover

Genius is eternal patience.

— Michelangelo

Like creating art for art’s sake, the implicit reward of patience is a sea change in perspective. Impatience can’t wait for all good things that come to those who can. Simple as that. Not to say waiting for all good things is easy. We can’t just count to ten – et voilà! We have to count to eleven, for a gift from the sea.

Only those who have patience to do simple things perfectly ever acquire the skill to do difficult things easily.

— James J. Corbett