VIII. Good Character Is Its Own Reward

A core Stoic claim. Good character does not need anything outside itself to be complete.

Someone will object: you only pursue good character because of the pleasure it gives you.

Even if good character gave me pleasure, that would not be why I seek it. It does not offer pleasure as a reward. It gives it in addition, the way a field planted for grain also produces flowers. The farmer did not plant for flowers. He planted for corn. The flowers are a bonus, not the point.

Pleasure is not the reason for good character. It is the companion. It does not always come.

The highest good is in the act of choosing good character itself, in the stance of the mind that has done this. Once it has fulfilled its purpose and settled into its own nature, it has everything it needs. There is nothing more to ask for, because there is nothing outside the whole.

Do you ask what I seek from good character? I answer: itself. It has nothing better to offer than itself. It is its own reward. Is that not enough? An unyielding strength of mind, wisdom, courage, sound judgment, freedom, harmony, beauty. You want something greater than this? You are looking for something above the highest point. There is nothing there.