The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine.
Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) was born in Smiljan, in the Lika region, and studied in Graz and Prague before leaving for the United States in 1884. His work on alternating current laid the foundation of modern electrical power systems. He filed around three hundred patents, and died without property in a New York hotel.
About this theme: Time
Time is the one theme here where every author writes from the same position — none of them had more of it than they had. Seneca devoted an essay to it, and his central claim is uncomfortable: we are not given a short life, we spend it in a way that makes it seem short.
More by Nikola Tesla
- If your hate could be turned into electricity, it would light up the whole world.
- The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result; his duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and point the way.
- Our virtues and our failings are inseparable, like force and matter.
- Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born.
More on Time
- Lost time is never found again.— Benjamin Franklin
- The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.— Chinese Proverb
- It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.— Seneca
- The life given us by nature is short, but the memory of a well-spent life is eternal.— Cicero
- Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.— Seneca