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 vigour of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.
Youth means a temperamental predominace 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 wrikles the soul. Worry, fear, selfdistrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.
Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being's heart the lures to wonder, the unfailing childlike appetite of what's next and joy of the game of living. In the centre of your hear and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it recieves messages of beauty. hope. cheer, courage and power from men and from the infinite sop 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.
