Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
Those words were painted on the wall of my high school wrestling room, where our coach, Bill Fjetland, used them to remind us that the hard work we put in every day would eventually pay off. It’s a message that resonates beyond the mat, applying to anyone striving to improve and reach a goal.
Coach Fjetland didn’t invent the quote, though. In fact, no one seems to know exactly who did.
And, on a day when many people celebrate St. Patrick and the idea of Irish luck, it’s worth asking where the famous line came from — or at least where it didn’t.
The phrase “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity” is often attributed to the Stoic philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca, better known as Seneca the Younger. But there is no evidence in Seneca’s Latin writings that he ever wrote those words. Scholars who track the origins of quotations say the line only began appearing under Seneca’s name in the 1990s, usually without any specific citation.
Over the years, it has also been misattributed to others, including former Texas football coach Darrell K. Royal and writer Elmer Letterman.
There is, however, an Italian line that comes close: “La fortuna non esiste: esiste il momento in cui il talento incontra l’occasione,” which translates roughly to “Luck doesn’t exist; there is only the moment when talent meets opportunity.” That version, too, has sometimes been incorrectly credited to Seneca.
In reality, the Roman philosopher likely never summarized the idea as a neat motto about luck. But something very similar does appear in his writing — and, fittingly, it involves wrestling.
In “De Beneficiis” (“On Benefits”), Seneca praises a remark by his friend Demetrius the Cynic about preparation and timing. In one translation, Demetrius says the best wrestler is not the one who has mastered every trick and technique — many of which rarely come into play — but the one who has practiced a few moves carefully and watches closely for the right moment to use them.
In other words, success comes from preparation meeting opportunity — even if Seneca never used the word “luck.”
That idea may well be the kernel of wisdom that later inspired the modern aphorism.
Centuries later, Thomas Jefferson expressed a similar thought in his own way. The third U.S. president, who claimed Welsh ancestry, is often quoted as saying: “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”
Which is another way of saying you don’t have to be Irish — or a wrestler — to be lucky.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day, and thank you for reading.
Shane Goodman
Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305
www.thedailyumbrella.com
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