No man, then, hates himself. On this point, indeed, no
question was ever raised by any sect. But neither does any man hate his own
body. For the apostle says truly, "No man ever yet hated his own
flesh." And when some people say that they would rather be without a body
altogether, they entirely deceive themselves. For it is not their body, but its
corruptions and its heaviness, that they hate. And so it is not no body, but an
uncorrupted and very light body, that they want.
--St. Augustine, On
Christian Doctrine, Book I, Chapter 24
