Youth
Samuel Ullman
Youth is not
a time of life
; it is
a state of mind
; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the
will
, a quality of the
imagination
, a vigor of the
emotions
; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.
youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of 60
more than
a boy of 20. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by
deserting our ideals.
Years may wrinkle the
skin
, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the
soul
. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spring back to dust.
Whether 60 or 16, there is in
every
human being's heart the
lure
of wonder, the unfailing childlike
appetite
of what's next and the
joy
of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station: so long as it receives messages of
beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power
from men and from the Infinite, so long are you
young
.
When the aerials are down, and your
spirit
is covered with snows of
cynicism
and the ice of
pessimism
, then you are grown old, even at 20, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of
optimism
, there is
hope
you may die young at 80.
