Count the dreams of your mind; if the numbers of the dreams

In the luminous and enduring words of Shimon Peres, the statesman, dreamer, and architect of peace, we find a message that speaks not only to the body, but to the soul: “Count the dreams of your mind; if the number of dreams exceeds the number of achievements, you are young.” These words are not a reflection on age as measured by years, but on the vitality of the human spirit — that divine force that continues to imagine, to aspire, and to believe in what has not yet come to pass. For Peres, who lived through war and built toward peace, youth was not a stage of life, but a condition of the heart.

The origin of this quote lies in the later years of Peres’s life, when he often spoke to young people about the power of vision. Having served Israel as both warrior and peacemaker, he understood that dreams are not luxuries — they are the engines of civilization. His own life was a testament to this truth. Even at ninety, he continued to speak of innovation, of cooperation, of a world not yet built but already alive in his imagination. And so he said: “If your dreams outnumber your deeds, you are still young.” For in this balance — between what is and what could be — lies the true measure of a person’s vitality.

To count your dreams is to look inward and take stock of your imagination. It is to measure not your possessions, but your passions; not your years, but your hopes. The young in spirit are not those who have accomplished little, but those who still hunger to accomplish more. Their minds reach forward, ever restless, ever daring. The old in spirit, by contrast, may have achieved much but dream no longer — their inner fire cooled by satisfaction or fear. Thus, Peres’s wisdom reverses the common understanding of age. Youth is not the absence of wrinkles, but the presence of wonder.

History itself gives witness to this truth. Consider Leonardo da Vinci, who, even in his final years, filled his notebooks with sketches of inventions that would not exist for centuries — helicopters, submarines, cities of the future. Though his body aged, his dreams remained countless, and thus he never truly grew old. Or Nelson Mandela, who, after twenty-seven years in prison, did not emerge embittered, but full of hope for reconciliation. His achievements were immense, but his dreams for peace were greater still — and that made him eternally young in spirit. Such men, like Peres, remind us that to dream beyond our victories is to remain alive in the deepest sense.

Peres’s quote also carries a quiet challenge. It asks us to never stop dreaming, no matter how many of our goals we achieve. For when we cease to dream, we cease to grow. A tree stops reaching when it believes the sky is too high; so too does the human heart wither when it no longer aspires. Dreams are the breath of the soul — they sustain our purpose and renew our courage. The one who continues to imagine a better tomorrow, even after tasting success or enduring failure, has found the secret of eternal youth.

But this wisdom is not only poetic; it is practical. Peres invites us to look upon our lives and ask: Have my dreams slowed to match my accomplishments, or do I still reach beyond them? If the latter, then we are still alive in the truest sense. To live by this teaching, we must keep curiosity alive, learn relentlessly, and remain unafraid to begin again. The dreamer who acts is young forever, because he never allows the present to limit his vision of the future.

Therefore, O listener and seeker of wisdom, take this teaching into your heart: Do not measure your life by what you have achieved, but by what you still long to achieve. Let your mind be a garden of dreams — ever blooming, ever growing. When one dream is fulfilled, plant another. When one chapter closes, write the next. For as Shimon Peres teaches, youth is not a number, but a flame — the burning desire to imagine what could yet be. As long as that flame burns within you, time itself will bow before your spirit.

And so, count your dreams often, and let them outnumber your deeds. For in the arithmetic of the soul, to dream is to live, and to keep dreaming is to stay forever young.