Stoicism ·
Did Seneca Really Say ‘Luck Is When Preparation Meets Opportunity’?
A common attribution, a real underlying idea, and a sentence Seneca did not quite write.
Seneca's Original Idea
In Letter 71 to Lucilius, Seneca argues that a wise person remains unaffected by fortune because their preparation has already done the work.
How the Modern Version Arose
Sports columns in the 1950s and 60s often echoed this sentiment. By the 1980s, however, self-help writers had begun incorrectly crediting it to Seneca.
A Useful Idea, With Proper Attribution
The underlying sentiment is valuable. However, its attribution should be honest.
Analysis
Even if Seneca did not say it, the sentence captures something Stoic: that *fortuna* is morally neutral and only meaningful in relation to a prepared agent. The quote is wrong about authorship and right about Stoicism.
https://quotedmind.com/article/seneca-luck-preparation-meets-opportunity