The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine.
Interpretation
The present belongs to those who control it, while the future is shaped by my efforts and vision.
This quote by Nikola Tesla emphasizes the distinction between the current realities that people face and the potential of the future that can be molded through hard work and innovation. Tesla reflects on his dedication to creating a better future through his inventions and ideas, suggesting that while others might reap the benefits in the present, the true value and recognition of one's contributions will ultimately belong to the visionary who labors for what lies ahead.
In practice
In a speech about innovation and technology.
Even matter called inorganic, believed to be dead, responds to irritants and gives unmistakable evidence of a living principle within. Everything that exists, organic or inorganic, animated or inert, is susceptible to stimulus from the outside.
Our senses enable us to perceive only a minute portion of the outside world.
Every living being is an engine geared to the wheelwork of the universe. Though seemingly affected only by its immediate surrounding, the sphere of external influence extends to infinite distance.
The history of science shows that theories are perishable. With every new truth that is revealed we get a better understanding of Nature and our conceptions and views are modified.
The Secretary of Hygiene or Physical Culture will be far more important in the cabinet of the President of the United States who holds office in the year 2035 than the Secretary of War.
I am unwilling to accord to some small−minded and jealous individuals the satisfaction of having thwarted my efforts. These men are to me nothing more than microbes of a nasty disease. My project was retarded by laws of nature. The world was not prepared for it. It was too far ahead of time, but the same laws will prevail in the end and make it a triumphal success.
Among human beings there is no greater banality than death. Second in order, because it is possible to die without being born, comes birth, and next comes marriage.
A universe with a creator would be a totally different kind of universe, scientifically speaking, than one without.
We have to be careful that in throwing out the devil, we don't throw out the best part of ourselves.
Science in the modern world has many uses; its chief use, however, is to provide long words to cover the errors of the rich.
How vulgar, this hankering after immortality, how vain, how false. Composers are merely scribblers of cave paintings. One writes music because winter is eternal and because, if one didn't, the wolves and blizzards would be at one's throat all the sooner.
What more ghastly image can be called up than that of a man betrayed by his body who, simply because he did not die in time, lives out the comedy while awaiting the end, face to face with that God he does not adore, serving him as he served life, kneeling before a void and arms outstretched toward a heaven without eloquence that he knows to be also without depth?
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