A book I think I need to read: A Touch of Earth by Jean Hersey.
Here is a quotation:
(Anne Prochowicz posted this on the knitlist)
"...Recently a nondomestic friend of mine was admiring my hooked rug so nearly completed.
"It must take a lot of patience," she said, "to make a rug like that."
At her words I was reminded of the story of a certain Japanese gardener of the old school. The man worked silently and methodically and for long minutes over a bonsai. Finally, a visitor said, "You must need a lot of patience to do that." "Oh no," he replied promptly, "patience is needed only when you are doing something you do not like."..."

Yes! that is exactly it!