There are two different acts of patience: the first is to stand firm against the activity of another person, the second to stand firm against one’s own activity. Not to resist the activity of another person is an act of patience of the former sort, and to control oneself when one wishes to do or say a certain thing is an act of patience of the latter sort. It is the nature of activity to tend to increase its speed, and if this increase is permitted, very soon a destructive element comes about. The stronger this faculty of control becomes in a person the stronger the person becomes, and the more one loses the power of control the weaker one becomes.

Hazrat Inayat Khan, The Wisdom of Sufism: Sacred Readings from the Gathas