Neither a borrower nor a lender be;

For loan oft loses both itself and friend,

And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.

This above all: to thine own self be true,

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act i. Sc. 3.

Such dainties to them, their health it might hurt;

It's like sending them ruffles when wanting a shirt.

Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774): The Haunch of Venison.

And he that will this health deny,

Down among the dead men let him lie.

—— Dyer (published in the early part of the reign of George I.).

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.

I care not, Fortune, what you me deny:

You cannot rob me of free Nature's grace,

You cannot shut the windows of the sky

Through which Aurora shows her brightening face;

You cannot bar my constant feet to trace

The woods and lawns, by living stream, at eve:

Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace,

And I their toys to the great children leave:

Of fancy, reason, virtue, naught can me bereave.

James Thomson (1700-1748): The Castle of Indolence. Canto ii. Stanza 3.

From toil he wins his spirits light,

From busy day the peaceful night;

Rich, from the very want of wealth,

In heaven's best treasures, peace and health.

Thomas Gray (1716-1771): Ode on the Pleasure arising from Vicissitude. Line 93.

Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense,

Lie in three words,—health, peace, and competence.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 79.

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.

Health is the vital principle of bliss,

And exercise, of health.

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