-サムエル・ウルマンの青春(訳:岡田義夫)-
青春とは人生のある期間を言うのではなく、
心の様相を言うのだ。
優れた創造力、逞しき意志、燃ゆる情熱、・・
(中略)
こういう様相を青春というのだ。
年を重ねただけで人は老いない。・・
(中略)
歳月は皮膚のしわを増すが、情熱を失う時に精神はしぼむ。
苦悩、狐疑、不安、恐怖、失望、
こう言うものこそ恰[あたか]も長年月の如く人を老いさせ
精気ある魂をも芥に帰せしめてしまう。・・
(中略)
人は信念と共に若く、疑惑と共に老いる。
人は自信と共に若く、恐怖と共に老いる。
希望ある限り若く、失望と共に老い朽ちる。
-Original 版(原文)-
Youth
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 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 boy 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.
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