Aging & Wisdom Quote by Francis Picabia

Picabia turns “youth” and “old man” into clashing machines: one all ignition, the other all circuitry. The line is built on a provocation that feels especially Dada-adjacent. Youth “doesn’t reason” not because it’s stupid, but because it’s unburdened by the need to justify itself. Action is its own argument. By contrast, the old man “reasons” as a form of social leverage: explanation becomes a substitute for risk, and persuasion a way to outsource vitality.

The syntax does a lot of the work. Two blunt sentences, each with a clean subject-verb punch, land like a manifesto. Then the sting: “would like to make the others act in his place.” Picabia isn’t merely dunking on age; he’s diagnosing a particular pathology of authority. Reasoning, in this frame, is not enlightenment but a tactic for staying central when your body, status, or cultural relevance is slipping. The old man still wants outcomes, just not the cost.

Context matters: Picabia lived through the wreckage of World War I and the avant-garde’s revolt against “serious” culture that had marched Europe into catastrophe with eloquent justifications. Dada’s suspicion of rationalist rhetoric echoes here. The subtext is that civilization’s best arguments often arrive as alibis, and that institutions routinely romanticize “wisdom” because it keeps decision-making in the hands of people least willing to change. Picabia’s punchline is cruel but clarifying: power loves reason when reason can be delegated.