“Bad code that ships is better than good code that doesn't”

When you work on code long enough two things will eventually happen:

  Shippable Bad code will eventually be unshippable.

  Unshippable Good code will eventually be shippable.

Your quotation simplifies a concept by hiding the extra dimension of time. Bad or good, shippable code depends on a point in time.... It could be shippable now, or shippable in the future...