One of the virtues of being very young is that you don't let the

“One of the virtues of being very young is that you don't let the facts get in the way of your imagination.” Thus spoke Sam Levenson, a man of wit and warmth, whose humor veiled deep wisdom. His words are light to the ear, yet heavy with truth — a truth as ancient as the dawn of thought itself. In this saying, Levenson reminds us of a virtue that time often steals from us: the sacred audacity of youth, the boldness to dream without restraint. When we are young, the imagination is sovereign, and the world is an open field where anything can bloom. But as we age, the “facts” — the rules, the boundaries, the calculations — close in like walls, and we mistake realism for wisdom, though it is often only fear in disguise.

The child, in his innocence, knows not yet what is “impossible,” and therefore he achieves what his elders dare not attempt. To the young, mountains are not barriers but invitations. They do not ask whether wings exist before they leap — they believe in flight, and sometimes, by sheer belief, they rise. Levenson saw this quality not as folly but as virtue, for it is in imagination unbound that humanity finds its greatest strength. Every great discovery, every leap of art or science, begins in this sacred defiance of “facts.” The facts tell us what is; imagination whispers what could be. And it is the latter that moves the world forward.

Consider Thomas Edison, who as a boy was told by his teachers that he was “too stupid to learn.” The facts of his time said it was impossible to harness light itself. But Edison, possessed by the fire of imagination, refused to accept what was “known.” He played, experimented, failed, and dreamed again. In his heart still lived the child who did not let facts silence wonder. And through that imagination — fierce, stubborn, and fearless — he lit the world. Such is the power Levenson speaks of: the courage to imagine before you calculate, to see before others can believe.

Yet this virtue, though natural to youth, must not be lost in maturity. For when a man grows wise but forgets how to dream, his wisdom becomes dry as dust. The ancients spoke of this balance. They said the sage must keep “the child’s heart,” even in old age. The child imagines without limits, the elder reasons without illusion — and together, they form the perfect mind. The facts are tools, not masters; the imagination is the spirit that wields them. He who bows to facts alone builds nothing new; he who trusts imagination alone builds castles of air. But he who unites the two creates worlds.

And so, dear listener, the lesson is clear: never let the facts get in the way of your imagination. Facts describe the past — imagination creates the future. When you dream of something that seems too vast, too distant, too “unrealistic,” remember that everything now real was once a dream. The wheel, the compass, the ship, the telescope, the machine that carries men through the heavens — all began as whispers of the impossible. If their makers had bowed to the facts, humanity would still crawl upon the earth, never daring to touch the stars.

In your own life, guard your imaginative fire as a sacred flame. Let it live beside your reason, not beneath it. When the world tells you “you cannot,” let your imagination answer, “then I must.” Do not let the weight of evidence crush the wings of wonder. Instead, let the virtue of youth remain in you — the refusal to surrender to the ordinary. For even as years pass and reason grows strong, the imagination must remain free, fierce, and unafraid to dream beyond the known.

So, carry this truth with you as a torch through the corridors of time: the wise man is not the one who knows the most facts, but the one who never stops imagining despite them. Imagination is the breath of the soul, the song that keeps the human spirit alive. To be young forever is not to deny age, but to keep within you the fearless heart of the dreamer — the heart that looks at the impossible and smiles, saying, “Let us see what happens when I try.”