chance favors the prepared mind

The more prepared or knowledgeable you are, the more likely you will be able to make the most of chance opportunities and observations. The phrase is attributed to 19th-century bacteriologist Louis Pasteur. A: "Once the user had exhausted our usual troubleshooting suggestions, I was able to see the cause of his unique issue in the program." B: "Well, you had taken the steps to rule out all the other possibilities. Chance favors the prepared mind after all." It was only because of my years of research that I was able to seize on the scientific potential that lay hidden in the natural phenomenon. Chance favors the prepared mind! People like to dismiss that doctor's discovery because it happened by accident, but he had been a luminary in the field for decades at that point. Chance favors the prepared mind.