Our time, increasingly subject to speed and haste, appears to be inhospitable towards the practice of patience. We are always in a hurry, behind schedule, and live in a reality which requires us to be in two places at once. Patience, on the other hand, is primarily a matter of duration and demands an extension and expansion of our present. The forbears of our species made an effort to master the art of survival and then of life, to learn how to use things, to establish relationships, to have new experiences. And so life flourishes thanks to the infinite patience required to try and try again, to wait, to pause, to think things through. The author re-discovers patience as the ability to listen, to take a break, to establish a bond with objects and other living beings.

This book is part of a new series entitled "Forgotten Words": silence, patience, frugality, perseverance, decency, prudence, courage... and, finally, old age. This new series comprises brief essays by authors having different intellectual backgrounds, who discuss these forgotten words, explore their contemporary relevance, and identify their existential features.

Gabriella Caramore studied philosophy at the University of Padova, has worked for Italian public radio since 1982, is an author, and has hosted many radio programmes dealing with literature, philosophy, and religion.