Know how to wait. It is a sign of a noble heart to be endowed with patience, never to be in a hurry, never to be given over to passion. First be master over yourself if you would be master over others. You must pass through the circumference of time before arriving at the center of opportunity. A wise reserve seasons the aims and matures the means. Time's crutch effects more than the iron club of Hercules. God himself chastens not with a rod but with time. "Time and I against any two" is a great saying. Fortune rewards the first prize to those who wait.

THE ART OF WORLDLY WISDOM BY BALTHASAR GRACIAN
TRANSLATED BY JOSEPH JACOBS 1892