Arnold Schwarzenegger Quotes

“99% of the people in the world need to be told what to do and how to behave.”

“All I know is that the first step is to create a vision, because when you see the vision – the beautiful vision – that creates the want power.”

“Be hungry for success, hungry to make your mark, hungry to be seen and to be heard and to have an effect. And as you move up and become successful, make sure also to be hungry for helping others.”

“Diligence is the mother of good luck.”

“Don't be afraid to fail.”

“Dreams are for the dreamers. Goals are for achievers.”

“Failure is not an option. Everyone has to succeed.”

“Help others and give something back. I guarantee you will discover that while public service improves the lives and the world around you, its greatest reward is the enrichment and new meaning it will bring your own life.”

“I always stay hungry, never satisfied with current accomplishments.”

“I didn’t leave bodybuilding until I felt that I had gone as far as I could go. It will be the same with my film career. When I feel the time is right, I will then consider public service. I feel that the highest honor comes from serving people and your country.”

“I do the same exercises I did 50 years ago and they still work. I eat the same food I ate 50 years ago and it still works.”

“I don't suffer of anything that I lost.”

“I don’t walk away from things that I think are unfinished.”

“I have a love interest in every one of my films - a gun.”

“I was also going to give a graduation speech in Arizona this weekend. But with my accent, I was afraid they would try to deport me.”

“I would never exchange my life with anybody else’s.”

“I'm addicted to exercising and I have to do something every day.”

“I’m a strong believer in myself and therefore I can achieve everything I can dream of.”

“If it’s hard to remember, it’ll be difficult to forget.”

“Ignore the naysayers.”

“It’s not what you get out of life that counts. Break your mirrors! In our society that is so self-absorbed, begin to look less at yourself and more at each other. you’ll get more satisfaction from having improved your neighborhood, your town, your state, your country, and your fellow human beings than you’ll ever get from your muscles, your figure, your automobile, your house, or your credit rating.”

“Just like in bodybuilding, failure is also a necessary experience for growth in our own lives, for if we’re never tested to our limits, how will we know how strong we really are? How will we ever grow?”

“Learned helplessness is the giving-up reaction, the quitting response that follows from the belief that whatever you do doesn’t matter.”

“Life may be full of pain but that’s not an excuse to give up.”

“Milk is for babies. When you grow up you have to drink beer.”

“Not every legend is a myth, some are flesh and blood. Some legends walk among us, but they aren’t born, they’re built. Legends are made from iron & sweat, mind and muscle, blood and vision and victory. Legends are champions, they grow, they win, they conquer.”

“Once you see results, it becomes an addiction.”

“Stop whining!”

“The better you get, the less you run around showing off as a muscle guy. You know, you wear regular shirts – not always trying to show off what you have. You talk less about it.

It’s like you have a little BMW – you want to race the hell out of this car, because you know it’s just going 110. But if you see guys driving a Ferrari or a Lamborghini, they slide around at 60 on the freeway because they know if they press on that accelerator they are going to go 170. These things are the same in every field.”

“The day is 24 hours; 6 hours we sleep, so you have left 18 hours. So don’t ever give me this thing "I’m working 12 hours so I don’t have time to exercise and to work out." Or "I don’t have time to study another language" and all these kind of things. 18 hours; so utilize the 18 hours, that’s what I’ve always believed in, and I feel like that’s the only way you can get ahead.”

“The mind always fails first, not the body. The secret is to make your mind work for you, not against you.”

“The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent.”

“The pain you feel today will be the strength you feel tomorrow.”

“The resistance that you fight physically in the gym and the resistance that you fight in life can only build a strong character.”

“We are always stronger than we know.”

“Well, you know, I'm the forever optimist.”

“Where the mind goes the body will follow.”

“Yeah sure, some people say they sleep 8 hours. For them I have only one message: Sleep faster!”

“You can't be paralyzed by fear of failure or you will never push yourself.”

“6 rules to succes:

1. Trust yourself;
2. Break some rules;
3. Don't be afraid to fail;
4. Ignore the naysayers;
5. Work like hell;
6. Give something back.”

“Anyway, my fellow Americans, this is an amazing moment for me. To think that a once-scrawny boy from Austria could grow up to become governor of the State of California and then stand here… then stand here in Madison Square Garden and speak on behalf of the President of the United States – that is an immigrant’s dream. It is the American dream.”

“Being the highest paid actor, after Terminator 3… so it was a huge success for someone, that they said, you could never, ever become a leading man, because they said your body is too big, you have an accent and a name that no one can pronounce. What is this? Like Schwatizee, Schnitzel, something like that. So they said it can’t be done and I was very proud to get to that point.”

“Every morning you have two options. Continue to sleep with your dreams or wake up and chase them.”

“Everybody pities the weak; jealousy you have to earn.”

“For me life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive. But to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer.”

“I get laid on purpose. I can’t sleep before a competition and I’m up all night, anyway, so instead of staring at the ceiling I figure I might as well find somebody and fuck.”

“I knew I was a winner back in the late sixties. I knew I was destined for great things. People will say that kind of thinking is totally immodest. I agree. Modesty is not a word that applies to me any way. I hope it never will.”

“I love Thanksgiving turkey; it’s the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts.”

“I never set limits or created mental barriers. You may have read that I imagined my biceps as big as mountain peaks when I did my curling exercises. This visualization process was essential if I was to gain the kind of mass and size I needed to win the Mr. Olympia contest against monsters like Sergio Oliva and Lou Ferrigno.”

“I saw a woman wearing a sweatshirt with Guess on it. I said, "Thyroid problem?”

“I think that gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a woman.”

“I think that the only way that you really keep it a secret is by not telling anyone.”

“I was born to be a leader. I love the fact that millions of people look up to me.”

“I was not allowed to do comedy because I made so much money for the studio in action movies, that they said: "Why would we spend money on a comedy? When we give him an action movie, we can make more money."
So I literally said that I would work for free, you don’t have to pay me anything.”

“I will go back to what I have always done, which is promote health and fitness and bodybuilding. And I also did movies and ran my businesses in real estate and other investments, I will go back to that. Almost like Cincinnatus when he was in charge, when he ruled Rome, after he was finished with his challenges he went back to farming. I think there is something attractive about that, going back to your original work and so I think that’s what I am going to
do, continue doing that.”

“I will not change. Because if you are successful and you change, you are an idiot.”

“Just remember, you can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets.”

“Marijuana... That's not a drug, that's a plant.”

“Money doesn’t make you happy. I have $50 million but I was just as happy when I had $48 million.”

“My instinct is to win, eliminate anyone who is in the competition, destroy my enemy and move on without any kind of hesitation at all.”

“My team always works alone, you know that.”

“Nixon was always being attacked sexually. It was always said that he was a fag and that he had no sexual relations with his wife for 15 years and that was why he liked power. And Hitler had only one ball, and that was why he wanted to conquer the world.”

“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”

“The best activities for your health are pumping and humping.”

“The last three or four reps is what makes the muscle grow. This area of pain divides the champion from someone else who is not a champion. That’s what most people lack, having the guts to go on and just say they’ll go through the pain no matter what happens.”

“The worst thing I can be is the same as everybody else. I hate that.”

“We all have great inner power. The power is self-faith. There’s really an attitude to winning. You have to see yourself winning before you win. And you have to be hungry – you have to want to succeed.”

“What is best in life: Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women!”

“Keep your mind hungry. People have a tendency to overdo things at first and then sluff off.”

“Positive thinking can be contagious. Being surrounded by winners helps you develop into a winner.”

“Rest, let your body relax and grow. Work up gradually and don't blow it. Sometimes you can do so much your mind gets sick of it.”

“When you have a well developed body and you're confident, you see people bending your way, wanting to be on your side, wanting to do things for you.”

“It's time now to turn this mush into muscles.”

“If it can bleed, we can kill it.”

“Hasta la vista, baby!”

“Always keep in mind that training stimulates growth, but that actual growth takes place while you are resting.”

“As we get older the muscle structure tends to atrophy at a faster and faster rate. The ideal remedy for this is bodybuilding.”

“I have never seen a case in which an individual made progress in bodybuilding without experiencing an accompanying boost in self-esteem, self-confidence, and enjoyment of life.”

“If you don’t find the time, if you don’t do the work, you don’t get the results.”

“In my opinion, Pullover machines are among the most valuable exercise machines you will find in a gym.”

“Mass is vital to a bodybuilder’s physique. But it is the shape and the quality of this mass that win contests.”

“More often than not, a lack of progress in your muscle-building efforts can be linked to nutritional shortcomings in your diet.”

“The average man loses fifty percent of his muscle mass between the ages of eighteen and sixty-five.”

“Vision creates faith and faith creates willpower. With faith there is no anxiety, no doubt—just absolute confidence.”

“You must have a sincere and burning desire to achieve what you dream, dedicate yourself to making progress, and take control of your circumstances to change your body.”

“I'll be back!”

“Build a house, and your investment returns value. Buy a couch, and the minute you take it out of the furniture store, it loses value. That's why I always say a house, you invest in; furniture, you spend money on.”

“But no matter what you do in life, selling is a part of it.”

“Don’t go where it’s crowded. Go where it’s empty. Even though it’s harder to get there, that’s where you belong and where there’s less competition.”

“Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise.”

“Everything has style, everything's a little bit larger than life and done with mischief.”

“Forget plan B. To test yourself and grow, you have to operate without a safety net.”

“From the bodybuilding days on, I learned
that everything is reps and mileage. The more miles you ski, the better a skier you become; the more reps you do, the better your body.”

“Have a vision, trust yourself, break some rules, ignore the naysayers, don’t be afraid to fail.”

“I aimed to be a leader someday, but I knew it was important to learn obedience as well.”

“I always believed in shooting for the top, and to become an American is like becoming a member of the winning team.”

“I didn't mind basic training. It taught me that something that seems impossible at the start can be achieved.”

“I love it when people say that something can’t be done. That’s when I really get motivated; I like to prove them wrong.”

“I never argued with people who underestimated me. If the accent and the muscles and the movies made people think I was stupid, it worked to my advantage.”

“I never felt that I was good enough, strong enough, smart enough. My father let me know that there was always room for improvement. A lot of sons would have been crippled by his demands, but instead the discipline rubbed off on me. I turned it into drive.”

“I never went to a competition to compete. I went to win. Even though I didn’t win every time, that was my mind-set. I became a total animal. If you tuned into my thoughts before a competition, you would hear something like: “I deserve that pedestal, I own it, and the sea ought to part for me. Just get out of the fucking way, I’m on a mission. So just step aside and gimme the trophy.”

“I realized that writing something is different from saying it.”

“I was striving to be the most muscular man, and it got me into the movies. It got me everything that I have.”

“I was very glad I could afford to say no. With the income from my businesses, I didn’t need money from acting. I never wanted to be in a financially vulnerable position, where I had to take a part I didn’t like.”

“I’d closed my ears to my friends’ horror stories about married life. “Ha! Now you get to argue about who should change the diapers.” Or “What kind of food makes a woman stop giving blow jobs? Wedding cake!” Or “Oh boy, wait until she hits menopause.” I paid no attention to any of that. “Just let me stumble into it,” I told them. “I don’t want to be forewarned.”

“I’m a big believer in hard work, grinding it out, and not stopping until it’s done.”

“If I can see it and believe it, then I can achieve it.”

“If I had known everything about real estate, movies, and bodybuilding, I wouldn’t have gone into them. I felt the same about marriage; I might not have done it if I’d known everything I’d have to go through. The hell with that! I knew Maria was the best woman for me, and that’s all that counted.”

“If my life was a movie, no one would believe it.”

“If you don’t believe in yourself, then how will anyone else believe in you?”

“If you want to turn a vision into reality, you have to give 100% and never stop believing in your dream.”

“In weeks that followed, I refined this vision until it was very specific. I was going to go for the Mr. Universe title; I was going to break records in power lifting; I was going to Hollywood; I was going to be like Reg Park. The vision became so clear in my mind that I felt like it had to happen. There was no alternative; it was this or nothing. My mother noticed right away that something was different. I was coming home with a big smile. I told her that I was training, and she could see I found joy in becoming stronger.”

“It always seemed to me that the biggest obstacle to successful training is that the body adjusts so quickly. Do the same sequence of lifts every day, and even if you keep adding weight, you’ll see your muscle growth slow and then stop; the muscles become very efficient at performing the sequence they expect. The way to wake up the muscle and make it grow again is to jolt it with the message “You will never know what’s coming. It will always be different from what you expect. Today it’s this, tomorrow it’s something else.” One day it’s ultra-heavy weights; the next day high reps.”

“It might seem like I was handcuffing myself by setting such specific goals, but it was actually just the opposite: I found it liberating. Knowing exactly where I wanted to end up freed me totally to improvise how to get there.”

“It turns out that the governor of California has more authority to name appointees than any elected official in America except the president of the United States and the mayor of Chicago.”

“It’s human nature to work on the things that we are good at. If you have big biceps, you want to do an endless number of curls because it’s so satisfying to see this major bicep flex. To be successful, however, you must be brutal with yourself and focus on the flaws.”

“Life is richer when we embrace the multitudes we all contain, even if we aren't consistent and what we do doesn't always make sense, even to us.”

“Love stories are built around people's idiosyncrasies.”

“My definition of living is to have excitement always; that’s the difference between living and existing.”

“My desire was to leave home in an organized way. Because I was still just a kid, I decided that the best course for independence was to mind my own business and make my own money. I would do any kind of work. I was not shy at all about picking up a shovel and digging.”

“My vision of where I wanted to go in life was not normal. The whole idea of a conventional existence was like Kryptonite to me.”

“No matter what you do in life, you have to have a business mind and educate yourself about money.”

“Often it's easier to make a decision when you don't know as much, because then you can't overthink. If you know too much, it can freeze you. The whole deal looks like a minefield.”

“People were always talking about how few performers there are at the top of the ladder, but I was always convinced there was room for one more. I felt that, because there was so little room, people got intimidated and felt more comfortable staying on the bottom of the ladder. But, in fact, the more people that think that, the more crowded the bottom of the ladder becomes!”

“Sometimes being spontaneous and jumping on an opportunity is the only way you can see art being made.”

“Sports are so physical that it's easy to overlook the mind's power, but I've seen it demonstrated again and again.”

“Stallone and I had been feuding for years. This went back to the early Rocky and Rambo days, when he was the number one action hero, and I was always trying to catch up. I remember saying to Maria when I made Conan the Destroyer, “I’m finally getting paid a million dollars for a movie, but now Stallone’s making three million. I feel like I’m standing still.” To energize myself, I’d envisioned Stallone as my archenemy, just like I had demonized bodybuilder Sergio Oliva when I was trying to take the Mr. Olympia crown. I got so into hating Sly that I started criticizing him in public – his body, the way he dressed – and I was quoted as badmouthing him in the press.”

“The difference between those who adapted and those who didn't, Gorton said, was a willingness to totally commit.”

“The more knowledge you have, the more you’re free to rely on your instincts.”

“The more you do it, the more automatic it becomes, and the less effort it takes.”

“The more you know, the less you tend to do something.”

“The only way to make the possible possible is to try the impossible. If you fail, so what? That's what everybody expects. But if you succeed, you make the world a much better place.”

“The years with Barbara taught me a great lesson: how having a good relationship can enrich your life.”

“There are no shortcuts - everything is reps, reps, reps.”

“Training was all I could think about. One Sunday when I found the stadium locked, I broke in and worked out in the freezing cold. Every painful set, every extra rep, was a step toward my goal of winning.”

“We realized that if you wanted a girl, you had to make an effort to have a conversation, not just drool like a horny dog. You had to establish a comfort level.”

“What is the point of being on this Earth if you are going to be like everyone else?”

“Whenever I finished filming a movie, I felt my job was only half done. Every film had to be nurtured in the marketplace. You can have the greatest movie in the world, but if you don’t get it out there, if people don’t know about it, you have nothing.”

“You can overthink anything. There are always negatives.”

“You have to build the ultimate physical machine, but also the ultimate mind.”

“You work, you make the money, and then you can afford this car; you train and then you win championships. There was no shortcut; you earned it.”

“You'll get more from being a peacemaker than a warrior.”

“I don’t know what the problem is, but I’m sure it can be solved without resorting to violence.”