'Tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers: therefore he that cannot lick his fingers goes not with me.

LORD CAPULET: Sirrah, go hire me twenty cunning cooks…
SECOND SERVANT: Marry, sir, ’tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers: therefore he that cannot lick his fingers goes not with me.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 4, Scene 2. Old Capulet orders his servant to hire twenty cooks for the wedding feast. The servant jokes that they must pass his finger licking test to separate the real cooks from the pretend ones. A good cook, he says, is one who tastes and likes his own food by licking his fingers.

William Shakespeare Quotes