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Health is the greatest of all possessions; a pale cobbler is better than a sick king.

— Isaac Bickerstaffe

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Source and credibility

Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: Reported in Tryon Edwards, A Dictionary of Thoughts (1908), p. 221.
Source quality: Secondhand citation Quoted from another book or article rather than from the original.

More by Isaac Bickerstaffe

Ay, do despise me! I'm the prouder for it; I like to be despised.

The Hypocrite (1768)

Hope! thou nurse of young desire.

Love in a Village (1762)

And this the burden of his song
Forever used to be,—
I care for nobody, no, not I,
If no one cares for me.

Love in a Village (1762)

There was a jolly miller once,
Lived on the river Dee;
He worked and sung from morn till night:
No lark more blithe than he.

Love in a Village (1762)

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More quotes by Isaac Bickerstaffe

By candle-light nobody would have taken you for above five-and-twenty.

The Maide of the Mill (1765)

Young fellows will be young fellows.

Love in a Village (1762)

'Tis a sure sign work goes on merrily, when folks sing at it.

The Maide of the Mill (1765)

Fine feathers, they say, make fine birds.

The Padlock (1768)

Perhaps it was right to dissemble your love,
But - why did you kick me downstairs?

An Expostulation (1789)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Isaac Bickerstaffe (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.