The groundwork of all happiness is health.

The sentence treats health as the foundational condition for happiness: not the whole of happiness, but the “groundwork” that makes other goods usable. Hunt’s phrasing implies a hierarchy—before ambition, romance, art, or moral improvement can be enjoyed, the body must be sufficiently sound to sustain attention, energy, and hope. The aphorism also carries a quiet corrective to idealized notions of happiness as purely mental or spiritual: it insists that joy is embodied, and that neglect of physical well-being undermines even the most refined pleasures. Its enduring appeal lies in its plain, almost domestic wisdom—happiness is built, and health is the first layer.