ProverbPerseveranceFrench origin

Tout vient à point à qui sait attendre

Meaning: Patience is rewarded in the end.

Literally: Everything comes in time to those who know how to wait

Example: “Après trois ans de candidatures, elle a enfin obtenu le poste. Tout vient à point à qui sait attendre.” — After three years of applying, she finally got the job: good things come to those who wait.

Equivalents in English, Spanish, Japanese, German, Italian, and 3 more languages

  • English: Good things come to those who wait
  • Spanish: La paciencia es la madre de la ciencia (literally: Patience is the mother of science)
  • Japanese: 果報は寝て待て (Kahō wa nete mate) (literally: Good fortune comes while sleeping and waiting)
  • German: Geduld bringt Rosen (literally: Patience brings roses)
  • Italian: Chi la dura la vince (literally: Whoever holds out wins)
  • Portuguese: Quem espera sempre alcança (literally: Whoever waits always gets there)
  • Arabic: الصبر مفتاح الفرج (Aṣ-ṣabr miftāḥ al-faraj) (literally: Patience is the key to relief)
  • Turkish: Sabreden derviş muradına ermiş (literally: The patient dervish got his wish)

Origin: À point means at the right moment, the way a dish is cooked just right. Quotation sites credit it to Rabelais, others to the poet Clément Marot, but neither attribution has been confirmed.

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