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.
Those who make no mistakes are making the biggest mistakes of all - they are attempting nothing new.
All things being equal, letting people make decisions for themselves will produce smarter outcomes, collectively, than relying on government planners.
The more specific we are, the more universal something can become. Life is in the details. If you generalize, it doesn't resonate. The specificity of it is what resonates.
Think of what you have rather than of what you lack. Of the things you have, select the best and then reflect how eagerly you would have sought them if you did not have them.
A proverb is much matter distilled into few words.
You can enter yoga, or the path of yoga, only when you are totally frustrated with your own mind as it is. If you are still hoping that you can gain something through your mind, yoga is not for you.
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