“Those who see the existence of all mankind in their own person are miserable. Obviously, that man will disappear as an individual. The need for any person to be satisfied and happy to live is to work not for himself but for the future. An insightful man can only act this way. Full enjoyment and happiness in life, but the honor, presence, happiness of future generations can be found.”

—  Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

He told Romanian Foreign Minister Victor Antonescu on 20 March 1937 http://web.archive.org/web/20180628120602/http://www.atam.gov.tr/ataturkun-soylev-ve-demecleri/romanya-disisleri-bakani-antonescu-ile-konusma

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Mustafa Kemal Atatürk photo
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk 38
Turkish army officer, revolutionary, and the first Presiden… 1881–1938

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“A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell too much on the future.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Un homme heureux est trop content du présent pour trop se soucier de l'avenir.
From "Mes Projets d'Avenir", a French essay written at age 17 for a school exam (18 September 1896). The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein Vol. 1 (1987) Doc. 22.
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Variant: A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell too much on the future.

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Théodore Guérin photo

“Happy, ah, thrice happy they who can then look out to the never-ending future with calm and confidence,”

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Context: Nothing troubled the charm and silence of this solitude. Making the most serious reflections on what we behold, and on our present position, I said to myself: Thus does life also pass away, now calm, now agitated, but at last the end is attained. Happy, ah, thrice happy they who can then look out to the never-ending future with calm and confidence, who can cast themselves on the bosom of God, the Center of our felicity.

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George Bernard Shaw photo

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