这篇著名的散文《青春》是美国的德裔作家塞缪尔·厄尔曼(1840.4.13-1924.3.21)的作品，是深受麦克阿瑟将军喜爱的一篇励志文章。
塞缪尔·厄尔曼1840年生于德国，儿时随家人移居美利坚，参加过南北战争，之后定居伯明翰，经营五金杂货，年逾70开始写作。著作有散文《青春》等。
《青春》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 60 more than a boy of 20. 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 60 or 16, 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.
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 20, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at 80.
《青春》中文译文:黄志坚译
青春，并非年轻岁月，而是一种心态；青春的特征，并非粉颊、朱唇、柔肢，而是毅力、激情、创意；青春是生命涌泉的清澈、激扬。
青春，是指超越怯懦、勇气如虹，不图安逸、敢闯敢试。毅力若此，花甲多胜弱冠。年岁递增，非必老化；背弃理想，方陷残年。
岁月留痕，只及肌肤；激情不再，皱起心灵。忧惧自卑，终致身心佝偻、精神萎靡。
无论年少或年长，当怀好奇的诱导，像孩子般总渴求着：接下来的进展及驰骋人生的欢乐。
人人皆有心灵的感官，只要感受源源来自人间与穹苍的启发，感应有关美好、希望、激情、勇毅和能力的信息，你就会朝气勃勃、青春无限。
