塞谬尔·厄尔曼的《青春》原文是：
《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 tempera-mental 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 spring back to dust.
Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder,
the unfailing childlike 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 20, but as long as
your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there is hope you may die
young at 80.
青春不是年华，而是心境；青春不是桃面、丹唇、柔膝，而是深沉的意志、
恢宏的想像、炽热的感情；青春是生命的深泉涌流。
青春气贯长虹，勇锐盖过怯弱，进取压倒苟安。如此锐气，二十后生有之，
六旬男子则更多见。年岁有加，并非垂老；理想丢弃，方堕暮年。
岁月悠悠，衰微只及肌肤；热忱抛却，颓唐必致灵魂。忧烦、惶恐、
丧失自信，定使心灵扭曲，意气如灰。
无论年届花甲，抑或二八芳龄，心中皆有生命之欢乐，奇迹之诱惑，
孩童般天真久盛不衰。人的心灵应如浩淼瀚海，只有不断接纳美好、
希望、欢乐、勇气和力量的百川，才能青春永驻、风华长存。
一旦心海枯竭，锐气便被冰雪覆盖，玩世不恭、自暴自弃油然而生，
即使年方二十，实已垂垂老矣；然则只要虚怀若谷，让喜悦、达观、
仁爱充盈其间，你就有望在八十高龄告别尘寰时仍觉年轻。
塞谬尔•厄尔曼： 《青春》 就是这么一篇美文。虽只有短短四百多字，但历经100余年依然魅力不减，其优美的语句成为很多英文学习者必背的范文，并以其深刻的思想成为更多人的座右铭。
塞谬尔•厄尔曼，1840年生于德国，童年移居美国，参加过“南北战争”，他是五金制造商，他所热衷的公益事业在他死后半个多世纪还在继续，最近，他的一部书在日本的版税三万多美元，后人以他喜爱的方式捐给亚拉巴马州大学作为奖学金基金。有谁能说这不是青春的光彩、永恒的青春呢？他的散文《青春》，后来因成为麦克阿瑟将军的毕生钟爱之作而出名。