一段廣為傳播的文字。

　　青春，不是人生的一個(gè)階段，而是一種心境。青春，不是指粉紅的面頰，紅潤(rùn)的嘴唇和柔韌的膝蓋，而是指堅(jiān)強(qiáng)的意志、豐富的想象和激越的情感。青春，是生命伸出的一泓清泉。

　　青春，指氣質(zhì)上勇猛果敢而不怯懦退縮，渴求冒險(xiǎn)而不妄圖安逸。一位60歲的老人身上常常散發(fā)出青春著這種氣息，而在一個(gè)20歲的小伙子身上倒未必可尋。沒(méi)有人會(huì)僅僅因?yàn)槟隁q的增長(zhǎng)而變得衰老，我們是由于喪失理想才變得衰老。

　　年歲或許在皮膚上生出皺紋，而熱情不再則會(huì)使心靈起皺。憂慮、恐懼、自卑，都會(huì)讓人心灰意懶。

　　無(wú)論是60歲還是16歲，每一個(gè)人心里都懷有對(duì)新奇事物的向往，都會(huì)像孩童一樣對(duì)未來(lái)充滿永不衰減的憧憬，都能在生活的游戲中汲取快樂(lè)。在你我的心靈中央都有一座無(wú)限電臺(tái);只要它能接收倒其他人和上帝發(fā)出的美、希望、快樂(lè)、勇氣和力量的信息，你就會(huì)永葆青春。

　　當(dāng)你的天線收攏，當(dāng)你的心靈覆蓋著憤世嫉俗的霜雪和悲觀厭世的堅(jiān)冰，即使你年方20，你也已經(jīng)進(jìn)入了垂暮之年。然而，只要你的天線張開(kāi)，接收著樂(lè)觀向上的電波，那么，你就可以指望，在80歲死去時(shí)仍然年輕。

　　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 sixty more than a body of twenty. 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 spirit back to dust.

　　Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being's heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing child-like 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 twenty, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty.