Solon of Athens once said that we should count no man happy until he is dead. What did he mean by that? In short, he meant that we cannot know the quality of a person's life until its end. While the principle is simple, the way Solon makes the argument and especially the limits of his argument matter for us today.
For there is another ancient Law Giver, Moses, who makes much the same argument but does so with greater confidence because of the God in whom he hoped.