On Patience

Many of us are so busy that we might be tempted to think we don't have time to be patient. However, that idea involves a serious underestimation of what patience is and why it matters. In On Patience: Reclaiming a Foundational Virtue, Matthew Pianalto revives a richer understanding of patience and its central importance in both virtue theory and everyday life. Drawing from a wide range of philosophical and religious sources, Pianalto shows that our contemporary tendency to equate patience with waiting fails to do justice to other aspects of patience, such as tolerance, perseverance, and the…