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Full Idea
(the poets think) 'the supreme reward of virtue was to be drunk for eternity'.
Clarification
'Virtue' here is the Greek word 'areté', which also translates as 'excellence'
Gist of Idea
Is the supreme reward for virtue to be drunk for eternity?
Source
Plato (The Republic [c.374 BCE], 363d)
Book Ref
Plato: 'Republic', ed/tr. Waterfield,Robin [OUP 1993], p.51
A Reaction
A perceptive thought. Most people consider the best life to contain endless fun and physical pleasure, so a boozy bawdy holiday in the sunshine ticks all the boxes.
Related Idea
Idea 13558 The supreme good is harmony of spirit [Seneca]
| 13 | Is the supreme reward for virtue to be drunk for eternity? [Plato] |
| 7908 | At the end of a saint, he is not located in space, but just ceases to be disturbed [Ashvaghosha] |
| 6820 | The righteous shall dwell on couches in gardens, wedded to dark-eyed houris [Mohammed] |
| 6812 | Heaven will be reclining on couches, eating fruit, attended by virgins [Mohammed] |
| 4412 | Those in bliss have their happiness increased by seeing the damned punished [Aquinas] |
| 7203 | In heaven all the interesting men are missing [Nietzsche] |
| 18318 | People who disparage actual life avenge themselves by imagining a better one [Nietzsche] |
| 18288 | Heaven was invented by the sick and the dying [Nietzsche] |
| 18306 | We don't want heaven; now that we are men, we want the kingdom of earth [Nietzsche] |
| 21520 | That our heaven is a dull place reflects the misery of excessive work in life [Russell] |
| 23063 | The first man obviously found paradise unendurable [Cioran] |
| 20699 | Paradise would not contain some virtues, such as courage [Davies,B] |
| 7356 | Pious Jews saw heaven as a vast library [Johnson,P] |