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It is not a matter of ripe cheeks, red lips and supple knees: It is a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigour of the emotions: It is a freshness of the deep springs of life. Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, Of the appetite for adventure over love of ease. This often exists in a man of fifty more than a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old by living a number of years: People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry , doubt, self-distrust, fear & despair - these are the long, long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust. Whether seventy or seventeen, there is in every being's mind The love of wonder, the sweet amazement at the stars and the star-like things and thoughts, The undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing appetite for what next, and the joy in the game of life. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt, As young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear, As young as your hope, as old as your despair. In the central place of your mind there is a wireless station. So long as it receives messages Of beauty, hope, cheer, courage, grandeur and power from the earth, From men and from the infinite, So long are you young. ANON |