Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.

Born in 1840 at Hechingen Hohenzollern to Jewish parents Ullman immigrated with his family to America to escape discrimination at the age of eleven. In addition to his numerous community activities Ullman also served as president and then lay rabbi of the city's reform congregation at Temple Emanu-El. In 1994 the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Japan-America Society of Alabama opened the Samuel Ullman Museum in Birmingham's Southside neighborhood.