Aging & Wisdom Quote by Ira Gershwin

Aging, Gershwin insists, is not a moral car wash. The line lands like a well-timed lyric: brisk, elegant, and just biting enough to sting without turning sour. Its real target is a familiar cultural habit - mistaking longevity for wisdom, and wrinkled skin for a clean record. “Old age adds to the respect due to virtue” grants the obvious concession: character, proven over time, earns its aura. But the second clause snaps the halo off anyone trying to cash in on seniority alone. Vice doesn’t mellow into charm; it simply persists under a new paint job.

The subtext is sharper than the surface aphorism. Gershwin is pushing back against reverence as a default setting. We’re taught to “respect your elders,” yet he’s arguing that respect is not owed to the calendar; it’s owed to conduct. The phrase “contempt inspired by vice” also implies a moral memory: bad behavior accrues a reputation that time cannot dilute. That’s a quietly modern stance in an era that often polished public figures into untouchable “statesmen” as they aged.

“It whitens only the hair” is the closer, and it’s pure show-business economy: a physical detail that punctures sentimental myths. In a culture of reinvention - especially in entertainment, where image is everything - Gershwin draws a hard line between appearance and essence. The intent isn’t to sneer at old people; it’s to refuse the bargain where time becomes an alibi.