我寫我看我聽我讀我想

逛到一位網友的簽名檔如是寫：

『歲月可能會在你的皮膚上留下皺紋，但放棄熱情必然會使你的靈魂起皺紋。撒母耳‧烏爾曼』

很喜歡的句子，於是孤狗了一下『撒母耳‧烏爾曼』

原來這是十九世紀中到二十世紀初的美國商人兼詩人（這兩種職業有可能併容嗎？）-- Samuel Ullman

上述的句子引自Samuel Ullman 的Youth，青春，的一篇短文：

YOUTH  by 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 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.

不知道這是Samuel Ullman幾歲時的作品，肯定不是年輕時的，呵呵，因為很有自我安慰的感覺.....

不過這帖安慰劑許多人都蠻受用的，包括我在內（因為我也離青春很遠了？）

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

對照電影羅蜜歐與茱麗葉裡的一首歌『What is a youth』

What is a youth? Impetuous fire.
What is a maid? Ice and desire.
The world wags on.

A rose will bloom
It then will fade
So does a youth.
So does the fairest maid.

Comes a time when one sweet smile
Has its season for a while...Then love's in love with me.
Some they think only to marry, Others will tease and tarry,
Mine is the very best parry. Cupid he rules us all.
Caper the cape, but sing me the song,
Death will come soon to hush us along.
Sweeter than honey and bitter as gall.
Love is a task and it never will pall.
Sweeter than honey...and bitter as gall
Cupid he rules us all

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

You see the difference between 『Youth』 and 『A youth』.