QuoteProject
A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind.
Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Discovery often occurs when opportunity and readiness intersect.

This quote emphasizes that while discoveries may appear accidental, they often occur when an individual is intellectually prepared to recognize and seize unexpected opportunities. It suggests that having a prepared mind is essential for understanding and appreciating the serendipity of discoveries in various fields.

Themes

DiscoveryAccidentPreparedMindOpportunity

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about innovation, one might say, 'As Albert Szent-Gyorgyi observed, a discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind.'

More from Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Science has helped us to understand and master ourselves, creating an elevated new form of human life, the wealth and beauty of which cannot be pictured today by the keenest imagination.
Albert Szent-GyorgyiRead
I called it ignose, not knowing which carbohydrate it was. This name was turned down by my editor. 'God-nose' was not more successful, so in the end 'hexuronic acid' was agreed upon. To-day the substance is called 'ascorbic acid' and I will use this name.
Albert Szent-GyorgyiRead
It is impossible to encircle the hips of a girl with my right arm and hold her smile in my left hand, then proceed to study the two items separately. Similarly, we can not separate life from living matter, in order to study only living matter and its reactions. Inevitably, studying living matter and its reactions, we study life itself
Albert Szent-GyorgyiRead
Water is life's matter and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.
Albert Szent-GyorgyiRead
The real scientist is ready to bear privation and, if need be, starvation rather than let anyone dictate to him which direction his work must take.
Albert Szent-GyorgyiRead
Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought.
Albert Szent-GyorgyiRead

Similar quotes

The first mission to Mars did not expect to find craters and river valleys, and yet they did. The first mission to Jupiter didn't expect to find ocean worlds and volcano worlds, but they did.
Alan SternRead
I took biology in high school and didn't like it at all. It was focused on memorization. ... I didn't appreciate that biology also had principles and logic ... [rather than dealing with a] messy thing called life. It just wasn't organized, and I wanted to stick with the nice pristine sciences of chemistry and physics, where everything made sense. I wish I had learned sooner that biology could be fun as well.
Francis CollinsRead
Science is best defined as a careful, disciplined, logical search for knowledge about any and all aspects of the universe, obtained by examination of the best available evidence and always subject to correction and improvement upon discovery of better evidence. What's left is magic. And it doesn't work.
James RandiRead
Evolution is cleverer than you are.
Francis CrickRead
Science is a beautiful gift to humanity; we should not distort it.
A. P. J. Abdul KalamRead
Evolution is a fact. It is the best explanation of what is known from observations. It's a theory as powerful as the theory of gravity.
Donald JohansonRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.