patience

\Pa"tience\, n. [F. patience, fr. L. patientia. See Patient.] 1. The state or quality of being patient; the power of suffering with fortitude; uncomplaining endurance of evils or wrongs, as toil, pain, poverty, insult, oppression, calamity, etc

2. The act or power of calmly or contentedly waiting for something due or hoped for; forbearance.

Usage: Patience implies the quietness or self-possession of one's own spirit under sufferings, provocations, etc.; resignation implies submission to the will of another. The Stoic may have patience; the Christian should have both patience and resignation.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

n 1: good-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence [syn: forbearance, longanimity] [ant: impatience]

Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University

vir·tue ( P ) Pronunciation Key (vûrch)
n.

1. a.Moral excellence and righteousness; goodness.
b.An example or kind of moral excellence: the virtue of patience.
2.Chastity, especially in a woman.
3.A particularly efficacious, good, or beneficial quality; advantage: a plan with the virtue of being practical.
4.Effective force or power: believed in the virtue of prayer.
5.virtues Christianity. The fifth of the nine orders of angels in medieval angelology.
Obsolete. Manly courage; valor.

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition


Is patience a virtue? i suppose... i find my self pondering whether tolerance is a better one.

tol·er·ance
1.The capacity for or the practice of recognizing and respecting the beliefs or practices of others.
2.Leeway for variation from a standard.
3.The capacity to endure hardship or pain.
6.The ability of an organism to resist or survive infection by a parasitic or pathogenic organism

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

i am often told i am very "patient", but this is in situations where "tolerant" would probably be more fitting. i suppose i am more inclined to hope tolerance is a better virtue since i am way more tolerant than patient. sure tolerance requires a shade of patience but i am as guilty as the next guy of losing my patience under high stress, although my ability to tolerate the high stress situation is what gets me through it gracefully. my virtue is tolerance... you may do things that i don't completely respect, and that may get on my nerves, but when all is said and done, i'll still be there for you. i think intolerance is one of the key proponents for broken relationships. you get to know someone and become friends, then one day they just turn you off. it seems to me that EVERYONE is destined to turn you off eventually. the patient can wait to see when that time is, but the tolerant can persevere it.

tolerance is a better virtue.