When the wires are all down and your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and only then, have you grown old.
Interpretation
True aging occurs not with physical age but with a loss of hope and positivity.
In this quote, Samuel Ullman highlights that true aging stems from a negative mindset rather than merely the passage of time. When one's heart is shrouded in pessimism and cynicism, it reflects a loss of youthful spirit and resilience, indicating that emotional and mental vitality are essential to feeling young regardless of physical age.
In practice
In a motivational speech about staying positive through challenges.
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.
Youth is not a time of life - it is a state of mind.
Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.
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, quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions, it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.
Darkness deserves gratitude. It is the alleluia point at which we learn to understand that all growth does not take place in the sunlight.
Dream, rather than let yourself be dreamt
In old age, you realise that while you're divided from your youth by decades, you can close your eyes and summon it at will. As a writer it puts one at a distinct advantage.
Manners are like zero in arithmetic. They may not be much in themselves, but they are capable of adding a great deal of value to everything else.
'Age' is the acceptance of a term of years. But maturity is the glory of years.
Empathy is a skill like any other human skill - and if you get a chance to practice, you can get better at it.
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