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Who really said it

You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair

Not Douglas MacArthur — actually Frank Crane Frank Crane 1861–1928 · American clergyman & syndicated columnist
Disputed Free to reuse

The sentence comes from Dr. Frank Crane’s essay “Youth,” which was in print by April 1914 and was reprinted under his byline in Cosmopolitan that May. MacArthur kept a framed version of the essay over his desk and recited this passage at his 75th-birthday banquet in 1955, and that is how his name became attached to it. Samuel Ullman’s family also claimed the essay, but Quote Investigator gives Crane’s printings precedence.

Last verified 2 Nov 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair” Frank Crane, “Youth” (1914); often misattributed to Douglas MacArthur, who recited it.

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Douglas MacArthur. Use the credit shown above instead.

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In context

Evoking the world of Frank Crane — American clergyman & syndicated columnist. Theme: "You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

The documented source

Work
“Youth” (essay)
Author
Dr. Frank Crane
Earliest printing found by QI
The Carlsbad Argus (Carlsbad, New Mexico), 17 April 1914
Reprint checked
Cosmopolitan, vol. 56, no. 6 (May 1914), p. 721

Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder, the sweet amazement at the stars and at starlike things and thoughts, the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing, childlike appetite for what next, and the joy of the game of living. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair. In the central place of your heart is an evergreen tree; its name is Love. So long as it flourishes you are young. When it dies you are old. From “Youth,” by Dr. Frank Crane (1914)

Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of Cosmopolitan, May 1914, where the essay runs under the byline “By Dr. Frank Crane.” Quote Investigator prints the same paragraph from Crane’s 1914 essay.

Magazine scan · May 1914
Cosmopolitan, May 1914, on the Internet Archive
Cosmopolitan, May 1914 (Internet Archive scan)

How the line travelled

  • April 1914: the earliest match located by Quote Investigator is Dr. Frank Crane’s essay “Youth” in a Carlsbad, New Mexico newspaper. QI concludes that Crane originated the essay by 1914 (Quote Investigator ↗).
  • May 1914: Cosmopolitan reprints “Youth” under the byline “By Dr. Frank Crane.” The faith/doubt sentence appears in it word for word (Internet Archive scan ↗).
  • December 1945: The Reader’s Digest describes a framed version of the essay hanging over General MacArthur’s desk at his Manila headquarters, credited to Samuel Ullman (reported by Quote Investigator ↗).
  • 1955: MacArthur recites the passage, including this sentence, in his main address at his 75th-birthday banquet at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. TIME prints it as “vintage MacArthur oratory” and does not name a source (TIME, 7 Feb 1955 ↗).
Public domain

The wording is Frank Crane’s essay “Youth,” first published in 1914. It ran in The Carlsbad Argus in April 1914 (according to Quote Investigator) and in Cosmopolitan in May 1914. US works first published before 1931 are in the public domain.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

Why it gets credited to the wrong people

This passage has been credited to at least three people besides the writer it was first printed under. MacArthur is the most famous of them.

Douglas MacArthur Popular credit

MacArthur kept a framed version of the “Youth” essay over his desk, a fact The Reader’s Digest publicized in 1945 (Quote Investigator ↗). He also recited this sentence in his 75th-birthday address, which TIME printed as his own oratory without naming a source (TIME, 1955 ↗). In 1977 an Ann Landers reader declared that the essay “was written by Gen. Douglas MacArthur” (QI). He spoke the words, but he did not write them.

Samuel Ullman Competing claim

Ullman’s family privately printed a version of the essay in 1920, and a 1934 anthology, The Silver Treasury, credited it to him. Quote Investigator notes that Crane’s essay was circulating by 1914 and gives Crane’s citations precedence (QI ↗). Wikiquote’s main text of Ullman’s “Youth” does not contain this sentence. It lists the sentence only as a variant found in The Silver Treasury (1934) version (Wikiquote ↗).

Dr. L. F. Phelan Reworded

B. C. Forbes’s 1937 Thoughts on the Business of Life credited a condensed version to Phelan. In that version the sentence is reworded as “You are as old as your doubt, your fear, your despair” (Quote Investigator ↗).

The exact sentence was in print under Dr. Frank Crane’s byline in 1914, in his essay “Youth” (Cosmopolitan, May 1914 ↗; Quote Investigator ↗).

Context

Why this one stuck to MacArthur

“Youth” was a short inspirational essay that American periodicals reprinted many times after 1914, often without a byline (Quote Investigator ↗). Its most famous reader was Douglas MacArthur. Wikipedia notes that he hung a framed version of the poem, credited to Ullman, in his Tokyo office and often drew on it in public remarks. As a result the poem became better known in Japan than in the United States (Wikipedia ↗).

When MacArthur recited the passage at his 75th-birthday banquet, TIME headlined its piece “As Young As Your Faith” and presented the words as his own oratory (TIME ↗). An unattributed recitation by a famous general is how a columnist’s line came to be quoted as a soldier’s creed.

You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt.

Is this line in Ullman’s poem at all?

It depends on the version. The text of Ullman’s “Youth” that Wikiquote gives as its main text goes from “the joy of the game of living” straight to the “wireless station” image, without this sentence. Wikiquote records the faith/doubt sentence as a variant, found in the version printed in Jane Manner’s The Silver Treasury (1934) (Wikiquote ↗).

Crane’s 1914 essay contains the sentence in exactly the wording that circulates today, in the same place: after “the joy of the game of living” and before the heart images (Cosmopolitan, May 1914 ↗).

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Hope Courage Time Doubt

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Quote Investigator: Years Wrinkle the Skin, But To Give Up Enthusiasm Wrinkles the Soulquoteinvestigator.com

The anchor investigation. It traces the “Youth” essay to Frank Crane by 1914 and explains the MacArthur and Ullman credits.
Cosmopolitan, May 1914 (vol. 56, no. 6)archive.org

A full scan of the issue that reprints “Youth” by Dr. Frank Crane, including the exact sentence.
TIME: As Young As Your Faith (7 Feb 1955)time.com

Contemporary report of MacArthur reciting the passage at his 75th-birthday banquet.
Wikiquote: Samuel Ullmanen.wikiquote.org

Ullman’s “Youth”. The faith/doubt sentence appears there only as a 1934 variant.
Wikipedia: Samuel Ullmanen.wikipedia.org

How MacArthur’s framed copy made the poem famous in Japan.
Wikipedia: Frank Crane (clergyman and writer)en.wikipedia.org

Biography of the columnist under whose byline the essay first appeared.

Who actually wrote it

About the real author

Frank Crane

1861–1928 · American clergyman & syndicated columnist

Dr. Frank Crane was an American clergyman and popular writer. From 1909 he wrote syndicated newspaper columns and short inspirational essays. His 1921 column “Just for Today” was later adapted, usually without credit, by twelve-step groups. His essay “Youth” travelled the same way: it was reprinted in many periodicals, often without his name, and later credited to Samuel Ullman and to Douglas MacArthur.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Cite the source

Frank Crane, “Youth,” Cosmopolitan 56, no. 6 (May 1914): 721. Earliest printing located by Quote Investigator: The Carlsbad Argus (Carlsbad, NM), April 17, 1914, 8.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair’?” Last verified 2 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/you-are-as-young-as-your-faith-as-old-as-your-doubt-as/

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