Youth

FrontPage|FindPage|TitleIndex|RecentChanges| UserPreferences P RSS
{{|
Youth

By Samuel Ulman

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 the 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 enthusiasm wrinkle the soul.
Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair--
these are the long, long years that bow the head and turn
the growing spirit back to dust.

Whether 60 or 16, there is 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 receive massages of beauty, hope, cheer,
courage and power from men from the infinite,
so long are you young.

When aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snow
of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at 20.
But as long as your aerials are up, to each waves of optimism,
there is hope you may die young at 80.
|}}

see also ForeverYoung


"; if (isset($options[timer])) print $menu.$banner."
".$options[timer]->Write()."
"; else print $menu.$banner."
".$timer; ?> # # ?>