The humble are always patient, and these two virtues are most intimately connected with each other. He who forms a low estimate of himself is convinced that it is well for him to suffer, to be contradicted, to wait for others, to be thwarted in his projects, to have to bear with the ill temper of others and the unkindness of others. He regards all this as his due and takes it accordingly.
Am I thus patient and ready to submit to the disagreeable?
On the other hand, impatience is one of the surest signs of hidden pride. If we detect ourselves giving in to impatience and getting "put out" when we cannot get our own way and carry all before us, we may put it down as certain that we are still very deficient in the virtue of humility. Even physical impatience (except when it arises from weakness and ill health) is a mark of pride. It shows that we have not learned perfectly the lesson of submission. Alas, how impatient I am in spite of long years of striving after virtue. How deeply rooted pride must be in me! How can I get rid of this most detestable of vices!
One of the best means of acquiring humility is to school ourselves in patience. Every day a hundred occasions present themselves when we can, if we choose, check the rising spirit of impatience. We wait at a friend's door or we are kept back by persons who come in our way while walking. Some sound annoys us or others take our turn or place. All these are splendid opportunities to acquire humility by schooling ourselves to patient endurance.
- text from Humility, Thirty Short Meditations by Father Richard Frederick Clarke, SJ