The Smartest Things Ever Said About Fitness

By Charlotte Hilton Andersen
January 03, 2012
Straight talk from Gandhi, Michael Jordan, Rita Rudner, and more!
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Mahatma Gandhi

"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will."

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Michael Jordan

"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

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Ellen Degeneres

"You have to stay in shape. My grandmother, she started walking five miles a day when she was 60. She's 97 today and we don't know where the hell she is."

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Edward Stanley, Earl of Derby

"Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness."

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Oprah Winfrey

"There is no easy way [to exercise]. Believe me, if there were, I would have bought it. And it would be one of my favorite things!"

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Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The first wealth is health."

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Joan Welsh

"A man's health can be judged by which he takes two at a time—pills or stairs."

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President John F. Kennedy

"Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity."

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Norman R. Augustine

"Motivation will almost always beat mere talent."

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David Viscott

"You must begin to think of yourself as becoming the person you want to be."

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Vincent Lombardi

"The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It's your mind you have to convince."

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Paula Newby-Fraser, Triathlete

"Everyone has limits on the time they can devote to exercise, and cross training simply gives you the best return on your investment: balanced fitness with minimum injury risk and maximum fun."

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Dr. Kenneth Cooper

"We do not stop exercising because we grow old—we grow old because we stop exercising."

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A.J. Reb Materi

"So many people spend their health gaining wealth, and then have to spend their wealth to regain their health."

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Jack Lalanne

"My goal has always been to help people help themselves. Your body is your most priceless possession; you've got to take care of it!"

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Kim Kardashian

"It's important to work out and be the best version of yourself that you can be, but never feel like you have to be the skinniest girl in the room to be the prettiest. Be confident in yourself and you'll shine!"

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Rita Rudner

"The word aerobics came about when the gym instructors got together and said, 'If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it jumping up and down.' "

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Ken Doherty

"The five S's of sports training are: stamina, speed, strength, skill, and spirit; but the greatest of these is spirit."

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Bethenny Frankel

"I do yoga at night with my husband after we put the baby down. I say, a family that namastes together, stays together."

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T. Campbell and Gisele Lagace

"I like weights. You know where you stand with them. Well, sometimes you're lying under them, trying not to let them crush you, but you see, you know they'd crush you if they could. There's honesty."

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