"Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas" is verse 490 of Book 2 of the "Georgics" (29 BC), by the Latin poet Virgil (70 - 19 BC). It is literally translated as: "Fortunate, who was able to know the causes of things". Dryden rendered it: "Happy the Man, who, studying Nature's Laws, / Thro' known Effects can trace the secret Cause" (The works of Virgil, 1697).[1][2]
This sentence is often written with a present tense instead of the past tense: "Felix, qui potest rerum cognoscere causas" ("Fortunate is he, who is able to know the causes of things"). Translators have also often added the adjective "hid" or "hidden" to qualify the causes.
It appears prominently on a board in the 1990 film Awakenings (at time 1:06:19). The sentence also appears in Latin in the English-language edition of Asterix and Obelix All at Sea on page 41. The reply to this sentence is: "Never Mind The Potty Causes Now!"