Chance favours a prepared mind.
I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only…
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!)…
The sciences do not try to explain, they hardly even try to interpret, they mainly make models. By a model…
from http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Louis_Pasteur there is an “only” in the original French that gives the quote a very different meaning.
Dans les champs de l’observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés.
In the fields of observation chance favors only the prepared mind.