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)
“Colleges, in like manner, have their indispensable office,—to teach elements. But they can only highly serve us, when they aim not to drill, but to create; when they gather from far every ray of various genius to their hospitable halls, and, by the concentrated fires, set the hearts of their youth on flame.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)