Eternal youth is the concept of human physical immortality free of aging. The youth referred to is usually meant to be in contrast to the depredations of aging, rather than a specific age of the human lifespan.
So far, achieving eternal youth remains beyond the capabilities of science. However, much research is currently being conducted in the sciences of genetics which may allow manipulation of the aging process at some time in the future.
Eternal youth is common in mythology, and it remains a popular theme in fiction.
Famous quotes containing the words eternal and/or youth:
“The years-heired feature that can
In curve and voice and eye
Despise the human span
Of durance—that is I;
The eternal thing in man,
That heeds no call to die.”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)
“Man’s own youth is the world’s youth; at least he feels as if it were, and imagines that the earth’s granite substance is something not yet hardened, and which he can mould into whatever shape he likes.”
—Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864)