Better to hunt in fields for health unbought

Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught.

The wise for cure on exercise depend;

God never made his work for man to mend.

John Dryden (1631-1701): Epistle to John Dryden of Chesterton. Line 92.

In lazy apathy let stoics boast

Their virtue fix'd: 't is fix'd as in a frost;

Contracted all, retiring to the breast;

But strength of mind is exercise, not rest.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Man. Epistle ii. Line 101.

Health is the vital principle of bliss,

And exercise, of health.

James Thomson (1700-1748): The Castle of Indolence. Canto ii. Stanza 55.

But for the unquiet heart and brain

A use in measured language lies;

The sad mechanic exercise

Like dull narcotics numbing pain.

Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892): In Memoriam. v. Stanza 2.