Seneca Portrait

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

— Seneca

Luck Is What Happens When Preparation

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

— Seneca

About this quote

This exact wording does not appear in Seneca's surviving works, though the idea is consistent with his philosophy. It likely condenses a passage from De Beneficiis (On Benefits) and themes scattered through the Letters to Lucilius, where Seneca repeatedly argues that fortune favors the prepared mind. The phrasing gained wide currency as a motivational aphorism in the 20th century.

Source

Attributed, paraphrased from Letters to Lucilius