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In The Flash Season 3, there are a couple of episodes (such as 3x06 "Shade" and 3x11 "Dead or Alive") where H.R. and later Cisco have said a rhyme that goes like this:

"If a string is in a knot, patience will untie it. Patience can do lots of things, have you ever tried it?"

Is this a reference to something? Unfortunately, searching online only turns up irrelevant results or copies of the show quote for me.

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  • I wonder if this is just supposed to be a "look at how deep our writing is" quotes if you cannot find it elsewhere. Other than that just a general metaphor for having patience.
    – Tablemaker
    Commented Feb 22, 2017 at 19:53
  • It does take patience to untie a knot... I don't know that it's really that deep of a metaphor.
    – Catija
    Commented Feb 22, 2017 at 20:06
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    @Thunderforge, the poem appears on page 378 of THE INTERNATIONAL GOOD TEMPLAR volume 6, published in 1893. Full-text scan at Google Books: books.google.com/books?id=9UA2AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA378
    – M.H. Boroson
    Commented Nov 29, 2018 at 11:30

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This might be a nursery rhyme called Patience by Anna Maria Pratt. Pratt was a teacher for several years in Cleveland, Ohio. Her focus was on children's literature, and she published Little Rhymes for Little People in 1896.

Patience

If a string is in a knot,

Patience will untie it.

Patience can do many things—

Did you ever try it?

If it was sold at any shop

I should like to buy it.

But you and I must find our own—

No other can supply it.

--Anna M. Pratt

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  • What is your source for this quote? I tried finding this poem online and they all seemed to be random user websites, with a surprising number of them posting this poem in 2017 after the Flash episode aired. If an authoritative source could be found, I'd be happy to upvote and accept this answer.
    – Thunderforge
    Commented Mar 31, 2017 at 2:47
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    I can't comment on Mary's answer due to being new, but they're right. The Internet Archive has a scan of Little Rhymes for Little People, and the poem can be found on page 34 under the title "A Useful Possession".
    – Neal Cruco
    Commented Nov 29, 2018 at 20:58

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