Single Idea 5726

[catalogued under 22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / e. Death]

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.