..when he looks at Beauty in the only way that Beauty can be seen - only then will it become possible for him to give birth not to images of virtue (because he's in touch with no images), but to true virtue [arete] (because he is in touch with true Beauty). The love of the gods belongs to anyone who has given to true virtue and nourished it, and if any human being could become immortal, it would be he. Plato
About This Quote

Plato’s concept of “arete” is the highest form of excellence in the mind and character. It is not a passive quality that exists only in the absence of an active quality. Rather, it is the active quality itself, at its best, that exists only in the absence of arete. When one person gives to arete and nourishes it, he has become the seed of immortality. No other human being will ever be able to become immortal by cultivating his own arete because he will never be able to give birth to true arete.

Source: The Symposium

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