The concept would have been, for various reasons, alien to the ancient Greeks. But in modern times, perhaps no Greek has expressed it more beautifully than Nikos Kazantzakis, in his "Odyssey" (Book 18, verse 912): αλάτι ο θάνατος, και τη ζωή πολύ τη νοστιμίζει! (lit., "Death is salt, and greatly flavors life!", or, as Kimon Friar translates it, "Death is the salt that gives to life its tasty sting!").