Michael Faraday — "I shall be as patient as I can."
I shall be as patient as I can.
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More from Michael Faraday
"It is not enough to know, we must apply. It is not enough to will, we must do."
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Details
Attributed, possibly in reference to the slow progress of some experiments.
Date: Mid 19th Century (approx.)
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Understanding this quote
What it means
The speaker commits to enduring difficulty, delay, or frustration without complaint for as long as their self-control allows. It acknowledges that patience has limits while still pledging to stretch those limits. Rather than promising unlimited forbearance, the speaker sets a realistic standard: they will summon every bit of calm they can muster and wait things out, trusting that steadiness will eventually produce the outcome hurried effort cannot.
Relevance to Michael Faraday
Faraday spent decades conducting painstaking experiments that often failed before yielding breakthroughs like electromagnetic induction in 1831. Self-taught and working from Humphry Davy's basement laboratory, he repeated tests thousands of times, waiting years for effects to surface. A devout Sandemanian Christian, he prized humility and restraint over ambition. His slow, methodical approach to discovery and his refusal to rush publication or pursue wealth reflect exactly this disciplined patience with uncertainty.
The era
Faraday worked through the early-to-mid 1800s, when science was transitioning from gentleman-amateur pursuit to professional discipline. Experiments demanded handmade apparatus, weeks of setup, and letters-by-post collaboration across Europe. The Industrial Revolution accelerated life outside the lab, but inside, electromagnetic phenomena revealed themselves only to those willing to wait. Britain faced Chartist unrest, cholera epidemics, and rapid urbanization, yet the Royal Institution cultivated steady inquiry, rewarding investigators who outlasted dead ends rather than chased quick results.
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