Wikipedia's first sentence called it “ability and willingness to wait a long time or to carry out a task that takes a long time”. Today it says “ability to endure difficult or undesired long-term circumstances”. Sections present on October 6, 2023 no longer exist: “Judaism; Christianity; Islam; Buddhism; Hinduism”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
It also means not easily getting angry or not showing anger in situations of human communication where the other is unreasonable. It is commonly referred to as a virtue , though it is not one of the traditional theological or cardinal virtues. v t e v t e1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 17832903.
The opening as it stood in 2010 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Patience , engraving by Hans Sebald Beham , 1540 Wikiquote has quotations related to patience .Patience is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without acting on annoyance/anger in a negative way; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties.It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast.Antonyms include hastiness and impetuousness .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 366687812.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Patience , engraving by Hans Sebald Beham , 1540 Wikiquote has quotations related to patience . Patience (or forbearing ) is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without acting on negative annoyance/anger; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. Patience is the level of endurance one can take before negativity. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast. Antonyms include hastiness and impetuousness .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 663234178.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Patience , engraving by Hans Sebald Beham , 1540 Wikiquote has quotations related to patience . Patience (or forbearance ) is the ability to endure difficult circumstances such as perseverance in the face of delay; tolerance of provocation without responding in annoyance/ anger ; or forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties.Patience is the level of endurance one can have before negativity. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast. Antonyms include hastiness and impetuousness .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 965308500.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Ability to endure difficult circumstances This article is about the state of being. Patience , engraving by Hans Sebald Beham , 1540 Wikiquote has quotations related to patience . Patience (or forbearance ) is the ability to endure difficult circumstances. Patience may involve perseverance in the face of delay; tolerance of provocation without responding with disrespect or anger ; forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties; or being able to wait for a long time without getting irritated or bored. Patience is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast. Antonyms include impatience, hastiness , and impetuousness .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1177472364.
The opening as it stood in 2025 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Ability to endure difficult circumstances This article is about the state of being. Patience , engraving by Hans Sebald Beham , 1540 Wikiquote has quotations related to patience . Patience, or forbearance , is the ability to endure difficult or undesired long-term circumstances.Patience involves perseverance or tolerance in the face of delay, provocation, or stress without responding negatively, such as reacting with disrespect or anger.Patience is also used to refer to the character trait of being disciplined and steadfast.Antonyms of patience include impatience, hastiness , and impetuousness .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1269963093. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “ability and willingness to wait a long time or to carry out a task that takes a long time”. Today it says “ability to endure difficult or undesired long-term circumstances”. Sections present on October 6, 2023 no longer exist: “Judaism; Christianity; Islam; Buddhism; Hinduism”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
ability and willingness to wait a long time or to carry out a task that takes a long time
Now
ability to endure difficult or undesired long-term circumstances
Sections that no longer exist
Present on October 6, 2023, absent today, with no near-matching heading in the current article and the article shorter overall, so this is not a renamed heading or a topic absorbed into a fuller treatment. 5 sections of 400 characters or more gone since October 6 2023, with the article 3,314 characters shorter.
Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Buddhism
Hinduism
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
