塞缪尔·厄尔曼的经典短文《年轻》自20世纪初问世以来，以其深邃的思想和隽永的文字影响了全球数代人。这篇仅400余字的短文曾引发美国社会的广泛共鸣，更被麦克阿瑟将军奉为精神指引，成为日本企业家松下幸之助等人的座右铭。以下为全文内容及中文翻译：
《年轻》
作者：塞缪尔·厄尔曼
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.*
年轻，并非人生旅程的一段时光，而是心灵的一种状态；并非粉颊红唇与体魄矫健，而是头脑中的一个意念，是理性思维中的创造潜力，是情感活动中的勃勃朝气，是人生春色深处的一缕清新。
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 boy of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.*
年轻，意味着甘愿放弃温馨浪漫的爱情去闯荡生活，意味着超越羞涩、怯懦和欲望的胆识与气质。六十岁的男人可能比二十岁的小伙子更拥有这种胆识和气质。没有人仅因岁月流逝而衰老，唯有理想的泯灭才会催生暮气。
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.*
岁月可在皮肤留下皱纹，却无法为灵魂刻上痕迹。忧虑、恐惧与自我怀疑，方使心灵佝偻于时间的尘埃。
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.*
无论六十岁或十六岁，人人皆心怀对奇迹的向往，对未知的孩童般热忱，以及对生活游戏的欢愉。在你我心灵深处，皆有一座无线电台。只要它持续从人群与永恒中接收美好、希望、欢欣、勇气与力量的电波，你我便永葆青春。
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.*
一旦天线倒塌，锐气被玩世不恭与悲观绝望的冰雪覆盖，即便二十岁亦垂垂老矣；但只要天线高耸，捕捉乐观的电波，纵使八十岁辞世，仍可死于青春。
这篇短文的核心思想是：年轻并非生理年龄的标签，而是心灵状态的写照。它强调理想、热情与乐观精神对生命活力的决定性作用，呼吁人们以“勇于有梦、敢于追梦、勤于圆梦”的姿态永葆青春。其跨越时空的生命力，恰如文中所言：“只要心中的无线电台始终矗立，便能死于年轻的八十岁。”