“This beauty is first of all eternal; it neither comes into being nor passes away, neither waxes nor wanes; next, it is not beautiful in part & ugly in part, nor beautiful at one time & ugly at another, nor beautiful in this relation & ugly in that, nor beautiful here & ugly there, as varying according to its beholders; nor again will this beauty appear to him like the beauty of the face or hands or anything else corporeal, or like the beauty of a thought or a science, or like beauty which has its seat in something other than itself, be it a living thing or the earth or the sky or anything else whatever; he will see it as absolute, existing alone with itself, unique, eternal, & all other beautiful things as partaking of it, yet in such a manner that, while they come into being & pass away, it neither undergoes any increase or diminution nor suffers any change.”
- Plato (The Symposium)
