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14 comments
No-Material694•
Basically means that even a saint (a perfect person with unlimited patience) wouldn't be able to tolerate this behavior. Let alone this man in the picture.
DarkishArchon•
"To try patience" means to annoy someone for a long time. If I was in class and constantly not listening to the teacher, I was trying the teacher's patience by not listening.
Saints are people who are religious and will generally have a lot of patience. So to say "you have the patience of a saint" means that you are able to deal with annoying, frustrating situations or people for a long time without getting upset.
In your example, the character is saying that the person he's talking to is so annoying that even saints would be frustrated, but that he isn't a saint and is already very frustrated.
slama_llama•
To "try someone's patience" means to really push them to the limits of their patience. So saying "You'd try the patience of a saint," means even a saint, a person known for their kindness and understanding, would be angered by what you're doing.
Continuing on to say "But I'm no saint" means this person is already beyond the limit of their patience and is very angry.
To summarize, it means "Even the most patient person would be getting annoyed with you by now, and I'm not the most patient person anyway."
mroczna_dusza•
To "try" something means to test it (so "try this out" and "test this out" are synonymous). When it comes to patience, testing someone's patience means pushing their patience to its limits. And a saint in some Christian denominations (such as Catholicism, Lutheranism, Anglican and Episcopal churches, as well as others) are people who are considered to be especially devout and morally upstanding followers of the faith, often people whose dedication to their beliefs pushes them to extreme acts of generosity or martyrdom (dying for refusing to renounce their faith).
And so taken together, the character is saying "You would push the limits of a saint's patience.... but I'm no saint" (I assume they did something after saying this line that suggested their patience had run out).
AdreKiseque•
"Try one's patience" = "Put one's patience to the test"
Works with other qualities as well!
MasterOfCelebrations•
To try means to harm, deplete, diminish, or degrade. It relates more to try as in to put on trial, rather than try as in to attempt (to do something). These are different senses of the word try, but they are closely related; try as in hurt is derived from try as in to put on trial. I think that comes from the fact that a trial can be very difficult and unfair, hence the term “trying” for something that feels like a trial.
And then a saint is a very patient, kind, and moral person. This comes from Catholicism, where a person can be declared to be a saint by the church. The man who is speaking says he is no saint, meaning he is not a patient person. He probably also means that he is impatient, because in English if you say “I am not [something]” you might be understood to mean that you are the opposite of that thing.
xxfukai•
Having the “patience of a saint” usually means the person is incredibly patient. To “try” someone usually means you’re being aggressive towards them, or trying to start a fight with them. Sometimes to “try” someone means you’re attempting to tell them something or do something to them that you believe they don’t have knowledge of. Like:
“I don’t think you will understand this question on my Spanish homework. It’s really difficult.”
“Try me!”
cold_iron_76•
He/She has the patience of a saint is a saying.
A saint of God would have an extremely large amount of patience.
Someone having the patience of a saint would be a very patient person.
To try the patience of a saint would be to really test an extremely patient person's patience.
This guy says he is not a saint though and this indicates he doesn't have a great deal of patience.
What he's saying (my paraphrase) is: You're so annoying/irritating/aggravating that you would try even the patient of a saint. Unfortunately for you, I don't even have that much patience and you've now went beyond what level of patience I do have.
Waste-of-Bagels•
This is a really cool line. What the anime?
nil8r13•
old pun on this:
"Can't you do anything?"
"I'm trying!"
"Yes, you're very trying."
JadeHarley0•
To "try someone's patients" means to irritate them or bother them. Basically putting their patience to the test. And "the patience of a saint" is a lot of patience.
DawnOnTheEdge•
“Try the patience of a saint,” means that even a saint would find it hard to put up with something. If he’d said, “**And** I’m no saint,” he’d be saying he has even less patience.
“**But** I’m no saint,” could be a clever joke, though. A saint would lose patience with you, but since I’m no saint, that’s not true of me, and I can put up with you just fine.
SigmaSyndicate•
"Even a really good person would think about killing you, and I'm not a good person"
"Trying someone's patience" means that person is losing patience (getting frustrated) with whatever is the subject.
Sorryifimanass•
I believe the use of the word try here is what may be confusing. In this case it's used as a synonym to "test" or to call someone's bluff if you understand my meaning. "You think I won't do it? Try me".