"The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine."
— Nikola Tesla
The Present Is Theirs The Future
The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine.
About this quote
Nikola Tesla wrote this in a letter (quoted by John J. O'Neill in Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla, 1944), reflecting on his rivalry with Thomas Edison and others who had built commercial empires on his inventions — most notably the AC electrical system that Tesla developed and Westinghouse deployed, which Edison had fought fiercely. Tesla died nearly penniless in 1943, having lost control of most of his patents and revenue.
Source
Attributed, quoted in 'Prodigal Genius' by John J. O'Neill (1944)
