A Portrait in Patience
A Great Egret patiently stalks its meal among South Florida’s protected wetlands, with the purple stalks of the aquatic plant, pickerelweed, reflecting on the water’s surface. Both egret parents feed the chicks during the nesting period, which remains in high swing. Fortunately, they don’t have to travel far to forage for food, as there’s an abundant supply in this wonderful preserve; and within a few miles of these wetlands lies the Everglades. Observing the egret’s focus, intent, and diligence is a true lesson in patience — but a few humans have had poetic insights into this state of steadfastness:
Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. -(Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy. -(Saadi)
Patience is the greatest of all virtues. -(Cato the Elder)
Patience is the companion of wisdom. -(Saint Augustine)
Endurance is patience concentrated. -(Thomas Carlyle)
He that can have patience can have what he will. -(Benjamin Franklin)
Our patience will achieve more than our force. -(Edmund Burke)
Patience and Diligence, like faith, remove mountains. -(William Penn)
Patience and tenacity are worth more than twice their weight of cleverness. -(Thomas Huxley)
Why is patience so important? Because it makes us pay attention. –(Paulo Coelho)
- A Great Egret Patiently Stalks Its Meal in the Florida Wetland