Full Idea
One who no longer is cannot suffer, or differ in any way from one who has never been born.
Gist of Idea
The dead are no different from those who were never born
Source
Lucretius (On the Nature of the Universe [c.60 BCE], III.867)
Book Reference
Lucretius: 'On the Nature of the Universe', ed/tr. Latham,Ronald [Penguin 1951], p.122
A Reaction
There is a special kind of pain in being poor if you were once rich, which is not suffered by those who experience only poverty. Lucretius is right, but we are concerned with how we feel now, not with how we won't feel once dead.