“Chance favors only the prepared mind.”
Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and Christian philosopher
Dans les champs de l'observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés.
Lecture, University of Lille (7 December 1854)
Alternate translations of this or similar statements include:
Chance favors the prepared mind.
Fortune favors the prepared mind.
In the field of observation, chance favors the prepared mind.
Where observation is concerned, chance favors only the prepared mind.
“Chance favors only the prepared mind.”
Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and Christian philosopher
Carlo Beenakker (1960) Dutch physicist
... (een flits van inzicht) komt nooit vanzelf, in de zin dat je er geen moeite voor hoeft te doen. Je moet je er echt wel voor inspannen. Er is een mooi spreekwoord voor: “toeval schiet de voorbereide geest te hulp”.
Zo’n inzicht komt wel toevallig, maar je krijgt het alleen als je bent voorbereid. Het inzicht komt niet vanzelf.
In Interview with Professor Carlo Beenakker. Interviewers: Ramy El-Dardiry and Roderick Knuiman (February 1, 2006).
Steve Maraboli (1975)
Source: Life, the Truth, and Being Free (2010), p. 16
“The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.”
Robertson Davies book Tempest-Tost
Source: Tempest-Tost
“The eyes see only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.”
Henri Bergson (1859–1941) French philosopher
Robertson Davies as quoted in The White Bedouin (2007) by George Potter, p. 241
Misattributed
Jean-Baptiste Say (1767–1832) French economist and businessman
Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Introduction, p. xix
“Adventurous minds, which wait for and receieve their ideas only from chance.”
Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French moralist and essayist
“I will prepare and some day my chance will come.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
Attributed in Laura Haddock (1931), Steps Upward in Personality
Misattributed
Variant: I will study and get ready, and perhaps my chance will come.
N. R. Narayana Murthy (1946) Indian businessman
Narayana Murthy shocks with 'Mera Bharat Mahaan' quote, indicates Infosys Ltd on hiring spree, 16k jobs on offer