Life & Wisdom Quote by Roger McGough

Guilt becomes couture in McGough's line: something you can slip into, something that signals to the world you’ve been shaped by it. The "dress" isn’t just decoration; it’s a uniform, a public-facing costume of remorse. By making guilt wearable, McGough smuggles in the idea that shame often isn’t purely internal. It’s social. It’s learned. It’s performed. You don’t simply feel guilty; you present as guilty.

Then he lands the twist of "shoes with broken high ideals", where a familiar fashion image (heels, height, aspiration) turns into a quiet demolition of moral ambition. High ideals are literally what elevate you; broken shoes mean you can’t stand tall in them anymore, can’t walk the walk. The phrase carries a sly, almost pop-surreal sting: ideals aren’t abstract principles here, they’re everyday equipment that gets scuffed, snapped, and worn out by use.

The second-person "You will" reads like prophecy or indictment, the voice of experience talking to a younger self - or to anyone who still believes they can move through adulthood without compromises. McGough, shaped by postwar Britain and the Liverpool poetic scene’s plainspoken irreverence, often threads tenderness through cynicism. The subtext is less "you will become bad" than "you will become human": desire, institutions, and disappointment will tailor you, and the clothes will fit whether you like them or not. The brilliance is how quickly the metaphor turns ethics into street-level reality: getting dressed for the day as a rehearsal for regret.