WE GROW OLD BY DESERTING OUR IDEALS Poem by Samuel Ullman Popularized by Gen. Douglas MacArthur (Gen. Douglas MacArthur was so inspired by Samuel Ullman’s poem that he popularized it and kept a framed copy in his office while Supreme Allied commander in Japan. He quoted it so often in his speeches that became known as “MacArthur Credo.”) Youth is not a time of life. It’s a state of mind. It’s a test of the will, a quality of imagination, a vigor of emotion, a predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite for adventure over love of ease. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years wrinkle the skin but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair … these are the quick equivalents of the long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust. Whether sixty or sixteen, there is, in every beings’ heart the love of wonder, th...
