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What is a long and desirable life? The paper puts forward some answers to this question on the basis of a philosophical approach. It aims to understand the quest for longevity, not to judge it. Far from the ambition to give a general answer to this question, it explores how “oldness”—defined as a lived experience—specifically shapes the conception of the quest for longevity. Does this quest mean a desire to continue with adult life’s capacities, activities and rhythm? Or does it mean to enter a new phase of one’s life, with its own criteria, a phase one may wish to experience for itself? This contribution first examines to what extent it is possible to formulate the idea of oldness as a specific “age of life” with its own criteria to appreciate life (I). The contribution then examines contemporary research on the quality of life of elderly people, to see if they take into account this specific experience (II). Finally, our analysis gives place to a specific conception of this quest for longevity in old age that is substantially different from the theoretical and normative frame proposed by these studies (III).