Old folks have dreams and ambitions too, like everybody else.

“Old folks have dreams and ambitions too, like everybody else. Don’t sit on a couch someplace.” — John Glenn

In these simple yet resounding words, John Glenn, the astronaut, senator, and living emblem of perseverance, speaks to the eternal flame that burns within the human spirit — the fire of dreams. His message, born not from theory but from a lifetime of action, defies the quiet surrender that society often expects of age. He reminds us that the passage of years may slow the body, but it need not silence the ambition of the soul. For as long as one breathes, one is meant to reach, to aspire, to create — to stand upright beneath the stars and claim life as one’s own.

The origin of this quote comes from the twilight years of Glenn’s extraordinary life, when he returned to space at the age of seventy-seven — the oldest person ever to do so. It was not vanity that sent him skyward again, but conviction. He sought to prove that the human spirit, tempered by experience, could still conquer frontiers. The world saw wrinkles and age; he saw possibility. When he spoke these words, he was not offering comfort but a challenge — that no person, regardless of age, should yield to idleness or resignation. For to live passively, he warned, is to betray the very gift of life.

This truth is as old as time itself. The ancients taught that the soul never grows old, only the body does. In Greek legend, the hero Odysseus, gray-haired and scarred, still longed for the sea; though he had conquered Troy, he felt his spirit die in stillness. The poet Tennyson, in his old age, captured that same eternal hunger in his famous lines: “Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will, to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” John Glenn’s words echo this ageless wisdom — that age does not end the journey; it only changes the vessel in which we travel. The heart that dares remains forever young.

Consider, too, the story of Grandma Moses, the humble farmer’s wife who began painting in her late seventies, after arthritis made embroidery too painful. She had lived a quiet, dutiful life, but when her hands could no longer sew, her soul found a new way to speak. Her art, filled with innocence and light, captivated the world. What the world called a late bloom was, in truth, the flowering of a lifelong dream that had waited patiently beneath duty and toil. She, like Glenn, refused to “sit on a couch someplace.” Instead, she proved that creation has no age, that purpose does not retire.

Glenn’s words also strike at a deeper truth about the nature of human dignity. In every culture, the elders are meant to be the keepers of wisdom, the guardians of memory, and yet, in the haste of modern life, they are often left behind, forgotten amid the noise of youth and ambition. But Glenn reminds us that the elders are not relics — they are reservoirs of courage. Their dreams are no less sacred than those of the young. Indeed, their dreams may be purer, stripped of vanity and driven by gratitude for the life that remains. When an old man dares to dream, he redeems us all — for he shows that the spirit never bows to time.

In these words, “Don’t sit on a couch someplace,” Glenn speaks to more than the elderly — he speaks to every soul grown weary, to every heart tempted to surrender. The couch is a symbol of stagnation, of self-imposed defeat. It is the place where one hides from purpose, numbing the ache of unrealized potential. To rise from that couch, however late the hour, is to reclaim one’s birthright — the right to strive, to learn, to give, to matter. Whether one is eight or eighty, the call is the same: get up, go out, and live.

The lesson, then, is clear and timeless. Life does not ask for permission to continue, and neither should you. Dreams are not the property of youth — they are the inheritance of all who breathe. Age should not mark the end of ambition, but the perfection of it. For the old know what the young cannot yet grasp: that time is precious, and that every sunrise is a gift. Do not shrink before the years; use them. Plant a tree, learn a song, teach another what you have learned. The soul that acts remains alive; the soul that waits begins to fade.

So, my children of every age, heed the wisdom of John Glenn. Whether you are at the dawn or the dusk of your days, remember that the dream never dies unless you let it. The years may carve their lines upon your face, but let them also carve courage into your heart. Rise from your couch, and take your place once more among the living — for the world still needs your strength, your wisdom, and your light. And when you can no longer climb the mountains of earth, climb instead the mountains of the spirit — for even at the edge of life, the sky still calls, and the stars are waiting.