Cynic Philosopher is the True Author of “Luck is Preparation Meeting Opportunity”

Seneca was talking about his friend Demetrius

Daniel Roncaglia
devs
Published in
2 min readMar 2, 2020
Motivational memes attribute Seneca the phrase about luck, preparation, and opportunity

The Stoics are hype. Lucius Annaeus Seneca, an ancient philosopher, was a nice guy. The Younger, how they call him, has is known to be virtuous.

Websites and memes attribute Seneca to the phrase about luck and opportunity. Opportunity doesn’t sound too stoic.

A great man, even if compared with the most celebrated philosophers, was the cynic Demetrius, is the Seneca opinion about his friend.

In “Benefits,” Seneca considered that Demetrius had an admirable statement:

The best wrestler is who has learned thoroughly all the tricks and twists of the art, but who has well and carefully trained himself in one or two of them and watches keenly for an opportunity of practicing them

Always quoting Demetrius, Seneca continues:

It does not matter how many of them he knows, if he knows enough to give the victory; it will not do you much harm to pass over matters which we are not permitted to know and which we should not profit by knowing. Truths so obscure may be neglected with impunity.

Besides Seneca, the internet features other personalities as authors of thought.

Reference:

Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 a.C — 65 d.C) On Benefits Addressed to Aebutius Liberalis Book VII Translated by Aubrey Stewart (1887)

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