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 supple1 knees; it is a matter of the will, a
quality of the imagination, a vigor2 of the emotions; it is the freshness of
the deep springs of life.
Youth means a tempera-mental 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 beings heart the lure3 of wonder,
the unfailing childlike appetite of whats 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 pessimism4, 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.
青春
塞缪尔厄尔曼
青春不是年华，而是心理；青春不是桃面、丹唇、柔膝，而是深沉的意志，恢宏的想
象，炙热的恋爱；青春是生命的深泉在涌流。
青春气贯长虹，勇锐盖过怯弱，进取压倒苟安。这样锐气，二十后生而有之，六旬男子
则更多见。年岁有加，并不是垂老，理想遗弃，方堕暮年。
岁月悠悠，衰微只及肌肤；热忱扔掉，颓废必致灵魂。忧烦，惶恐，丧失自信，定使心
灵扭曲，意气如灰。
无论年届花甲，拟或二八芳龄，心中皆有生命之欢乐，奇迹之魅惑，孩童般纯真无邪久盛不
衰。每人心中皆有一台天线，只须你从天上人间同意美好、期望、欢乐、勇气和力量的
信号，你就青春永驻，风华常存。
一旦天线降低，锐气便被冰雪覆盖，玩世不恭、自暴自弃自然地产生，即便年方二十，实
已垂垂老矣；然则只须树起天线，捕捉乐观信号，你就有望在八十高龄告别尘寰时仍觉期望。
