Aging & Wisdom Quote by Michael D. Higgins

Higgins smuggles a moral demand into a deceptively gentle sentence. “Every age” sounds like a lullaby of historical continuity, but it’s also a rebuke: if our moment lacks an “aisling” - the Irish poetic form where a vision (often a woman) appears to announce political hope - that’s not sophistication, it’s civic failure. By choosing an Irish-language term instead of the neutral “dream,” Higgins signals that imagination isn’t just private optimism; it’s part of a cultural tradition that once carried resistance, identity, and the promise of renewal.

The phrase “after all” does quiet rhetorical work. It assumes agreement, as if the need for a shared horizon is as basic as weather. That’s a politician’s move, but not a cheap one: Higgins has long framed the Irish presidency as a cultural and ethical office, not merely a ceremonial post. He’s speaking from a role that can’t legislate, so he legislates in tone - trying to make hope feel like a norm rather than a slogan.

The accumulation of adjectives - “better, kinder, happier, shared” - is deliberately plain, almost unflashy. It sidesteps technocratic language and culture-war triggers, defining progress as interpersonal ethics (“kinder”) and collective belonging (“shared”), not just GDP or national prestige. The subtext is a critique of an era addicted to cynicism and fragmented publics: without a common dream, politics collapses into management or grievance. Higgins isn’t asking for utopia; he’s insisting that a society needs a story spacious enough to hold more than itself.