In the fields of observation chance favors only those minds which are prepared.
Interpretation
Opportunity comes to those who are ready and knowledgeable.
This quote by Louis Pasteur emphasizes the importance of preparation and knowledge in taking advantage of opportunities. It suggests that while chance may present itself, only those who have cultivated their minds and skills will be able to recognize and benefit from these moments when they arise.
In practice
In a motivational speech to students, emphasizing the importance of studying and being prepared for exams.
To demonstrate experimentally that a microscopic organism actually is the cause of a disease and the agent of contagion, I know no other way, in the present state of Science, than to subject the microbe (the new and happy term introduced by M. SΓ©dillot) to the method of cultivation out of the body.
The universe is an asymmetrical entity. I am inclined to believe that life as it is manifested to us must be a function of the asymmetry of the universe or of the consequence of this fact. The universe is asymmetrical; for if one placed the entire set of bodies that compose the solar system, each moving in its own way, before a mirror, the image shown would not be superimposable on the reality.
These are the living springs of great thoughts and great actions. Everything grows clear in the reflections from the Infinite.
Without theory, practice is but routine born of habit. Theory alone can bring forth and develop the spirit of invention. ... [Do not] share the opinion of those narrow minds who disdain everything in science which has not an immediate application. ... A theoretical discovery has but the merit of its existence: it awakens hope, and that is all. But let it be cultivated, let it grow, and you will see what it will become.
These three things-work, will, success-fill human existences. Will opens the door to success, both brilliant and happy. Work passes these doors, and at the end of the journey success comes in to crown one's efforts.
Chance favors those who are prepared.
I have talked with great men, and I do not see how they differ from others.
The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.
Let no one be willing to speak ill of the absent.
We find what we are looking for. If we are looking for life and love and openness and growth, we are likely to find them. If we are looking for witchcraft and evil, we'll likely find them, and we may get taken over by them.
A veteran journalist has never had time to think twice before he writes.
Do not say a little in many words but a great deal in a few.
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