Strength and How to Obtain It quotes

In writing this book I have taken it as a commonplace that everyone—man, woman, and child—wants to be strong.

Without strength—and by strength I mean health, vitality, and a general sense of physical well-being—life is but a gloomy business.

Wealth, talent, ambition, the love and affection of friends, the pleasure derived from doing good to those about one, all these things may afford some consolation for being deprived of life’s chief blessing, but they can never make up for it.

He must use his mind. He may not be able to add a cubit to his stature, but by taking thought a man can most assuredly increase the size of his muscles, strengthen all his organs, and add to his general vitality.

But he must put his mind, as well as his muscles, into the work.

And by exercise and practice the will-power is greatly increased, until, in course of time, the whole organism is so absolutely under its control that the muscles can be kept in perfect condition even without what, in ordinary language, is called “exercise.”

give them equal opportunities; but let one’s will-power and power of concentration be relatively much greater than his fellow’s. Then set them to perform the same task. Which will succeed best? No person endowed with ordinary intelligence can be in doubt for a moment.

Will-power is a mighty factor—perhaps the mightiest—in all that goes to make up the sum of human success or failure.

But the strengthening of will—though perhaps the chief—is not by a long way the only benefit which physical culture confers. The man who means to make his body as nearly perfect as possible must perforce cultivate habits of self-control and of temperance.

The man who has cultivated his body has also cultivated self-respect. He has learned the virtue and the happiness of rigid personal cleanliness; his views of life are sane and wholesome.

Respecting himself he learns to respect others.

He is gentle, and only uses his powers against his fellowmen when called upon to do so in the defence of the oppressed and helpless. It is your weakling who is generally a bully and a tyrant.

his views of life are sane and wholesome. Respecting himself he learns to respect others. He is gentle, and only uses his powers against his fellowmen when called upon to do so in the defence of the oppressed and helpless.

It is your weakling who is generally a bully and a tyrant.

To take a few men who are exceptionally endowed by Nature, to make them extraordinarily strong, and to then train them to perform particular feats, is not a thing very difficult of accomplishment. But that is not the aim of physical culture.

In bringing the body to its highest pitch of perfection, various moral qualities, the value of which it would be difficult to over-estimate, must necessarily be brought into play. The first essential to success is the power of concentrating the will upon the work.

Muscles are not developed by muscular action alone.

Physical exertion, however arduous and long continued, will not make a man strong, or the day labourer and the blacksmith would be the strongest of men. Mechanical and desultory exertion will never materially increase a man’s strength.

Do not be disheartened because your progress at first seems slow; nothing worth having is to be won without labour. I can only tell you what to do, only point out to you the right road. The rest lies with yourself.

I should be the sorriest humbug if I endeavoured to make you believe otherwise, and you would be the simplest of fools if you did believe me.

There is no royal road to success, and a very bad thing would it be if there were. For your reward lies not so much in the accomplishment as in the effort and struggle, and all the good qualities which they bring out.”

The rest lies with yourself. I should be the sorriest humbug if I endeavoured to make you believe otherwise, and you would be the simplest of fools if you did believe me.

There is no royal road to success, and a very bad thing would it be if there were.

For your reward lies not so much in the accomplishment as in the effort and struggle, and all the good qualities which they bring out.”

I should be the sorriest humbug if I endeavoured to make you believe otherwise, and you would be the simplest of fools if you did believe me. There is no royal road to success, and a very bad thing would it be if there were.

For your reward lies not so much in the accomplishment as in the effort and struggle, and all the good qualities which they bring out.

”

Some who repeat them doubtless do so in good faith; let them listen and amend their ways. For those who circulated them, well knowing them to be false, I have no words in which to express my contempt.

Fair and square opposition I can face; but a lie, however groundless, once sent on its journey is difficult to overtake.

Now for my refutation. First, amongst my pupils have been many who, prior to coming to me, had been rejected as unsound by Life Insurance Companies; well, they have got their policies safely locked up now.

After the first two or three days the enthusiasm, perhaps, wears off. Then comes a period of stiffness, and the pupil is inclined to think that he cannot be bothered to proceed with the course. To such pupils, I would say, in all earnestness, “

Don’t be overcome by apparent difficulties; if you wish to succeed, go forward; never draw back.

” This stiffness, moreover, becomes a very pleasant feeling. You soon grow to like it; personally, indeed, it may be said that it is one of the most agreeable sensations I have ever had.

The answer again depends on themselves, not only on their physical constitution, but also on the amount of will power they put into their exercises. As I have said already, it is the brain that developers the muscles.

Brain will do as much as dumb-bells, even more.

For example, when you are sitting down reading, practise contracting your muscles.

The benefits are not, of course, confined to the visible muscular development. The inner organs of the body also share them. The liver and kidneys are kept in good order, the heart and nerves are strengthened, the brain and energy are braced up.

The body, in fact, like a child, wants to be educated, and only through a series of exercises can this education be given.

By its aid the whole body is developed and, as will be seen, pupils who have conscientiously worked at my system testify freely to the good results obtained, not only in the direction of vastly increasing their muscular strength, but of raising the standard of …

To such, the system should prove invaluable. It is quite a false notion to suppose that when once youth is passed exercise is no longer necessary.

So long as life lasts, if an individual wants to keep healthy, exercise is just as necessary as food.

It is through neglecting to recognise this that so many men become aged before their time. When a man begins to get into middle life he has a natural tendency to “take things easy.”

Were there any truth in it I should indeed despair of converting my fair readers to my way of thinking, for truly it is woman’s mission to look beautiful. But the idea is absurd;

Nature, which intended woman to look lovely, also intended her to be healthy; indeed, the two are practically synonymous.

Of course, improper, violent and one-sided exercise will naturally result in making a woman clumsy, heavy, and ungraceful, but proper exercise, having for its object symmetrical and perfect development, will have an exactly contrary effect.

while exercising, put “all you know” into the work, but don’t attempt to do too much. Exercise until the muscles ache, but never go on to the point of feeling thoroughly “blown” and exhausted.

A quarter of an hour’s conscientious work is better than an hour spent in “going through the motions” in a desultory fashion.

Pupils who are in any difficulty and wish for special guidance are advised to go in for the 2s. 6d. course of instruction by post which is given in connection with “Physical Culture,” full particulars of which are given in this book.

Letters from past pupils testify to the great benefits which can be derived from careful training under my system, and if the training has the further advantage of individual instruction those benefits should be increased even more than by studying this book.

It is a pleasant ambition to hope by one’s efforts to leave the world just a little better here and there than one found it; and that has always been and is my ambition.

My pupils can help me to realise it.

34, Duke Street, St. James’s, S.W., March 4th, 1899.

Not often is it given to us in this life to sow our seed and gather in the full fruits of the same.

Therefore it is with more than ordinary pleasure that I write this letter to say that with your system of Physical Culture this extremely satisfactory result is to be obtained.

But work in the city is a little difficult to reconcile with plenty of exercise. Some time previously Mr. Sandow had opened his school for Physical Culture, and having often admired him and his feats from afar, I resolved to go to him.

I am a business man, and from a business point of view I never did a better stroke of business in my life.

I am a mortal being, and speaking from a human point of view I never in my life came to a happier conclusion than when I resolved to become a pupil of the School of Physical Culture.

(iii.) You are stimulated by seeing others working in the same room.

The only disadvantage I can see in the system is that, if rigidly followed, you would soon be driven to patronise a fresh tailor.

I was warned not to get muscle-bound by taking the course; I now cannot see how this can happen, unless you neglect some of the exercises entirely.

Actors and singers do not need great muscular strength, but they do most emphatically require health, and, of course, health and reasonable development go together.

No man is such a slave to his physical condition as the actor or lyric artist.

However great his talent, he cannot give expression to it if the machine be out of repair; his physical health is obviously his most valuable asset.

As a child, I was myself exceedingly delicate. More than once, indeed, my life was despaired of. Until I was in my tenth year I scarcely knew what strength was.

Then it happened that I saw it in bronze and stone.

My father took me with him to Italy, and in the art galleries of Rome and Florence I was struck with admiration for the finely developed forms of the sculptured figures of the athletes of old.

It is not necessary, as some may think, to be born strong in order to become strong.

Unlike the poet, who, we are told, has to be born a poet, the strong man can make himself.

As a child, I was myself exceedingly delicate. More than once, indeed, my life was despaired of. Until I was in my tenth year I scarcely knew what strength was. Then it happened that I saw it in bronze and stone.

It may be said at once that I have no belief in special diet; I have always eaten and drunk that which my fancy dictated, but I have always taken care to avoid anything in the nature of excess.

There is no better guide to good living than moderation.

That is a fact I am always anxious to impress upon my pupils. Let them be moderate in all things, and they need fear no interruption in gaining strength by my system of training.

A blow well directed, and the door was burst from its hinges. The man inside was slightly injured by this rough method, but a ten pound note served to solace Ins feelings, and to heal his wounds.

And we—well, we just managed to save the challenge by the space of half-a-minute.

The Marquís of Queensberry and Lord de Clifford were appointed judges, and they examined closely all the bars, bells, weights, and chains that were to be used in the performance.

There was, therefore, nothing for it but to walk to my chambers, which were then in Rupert-street, Piccadilly. Thousands of people followed us the whole way, and Rupert-street was blocked.

A giant, when you have got him, is rather like a white elephant. He is a rare creature, but it is difficult to know what to do with him.

It would have been clearly unwise to let him go into the streets, and accordingly he had to be kept indoors.

During this part of the performance we fired the cannon, and the whole display was brought to a conclusion by placing my arm through a leathern belt which girt his waist, and carrying him at arm’s length off the stage.

What became of him after he left me I never heard. The last report was that he had carried off his own landlady, and that the two had started some sort of show together.

The table broke through, and he fell to the ground. You can imagine, I daresay, the scene of wreckage and consternation—the smashed table, the man dazed, lying in a heap on the floor, his friends around him open-mouthed with amazement.

In the midst of this scene I sat down with my friend and smoked a cigar.

A gendarme was fetched. He entered the room and wanted to arrest me. The proprietor caught hold of him, saying, “Be careful, he is an awful man, he will kill you. You must have some assistance.”

Having landed, I entered a cab. Everyone, I suppose, has a vivid recollection of his first cab in America.

The independence of the American cab-driver is sublime. It is something too great for words.

You can only draw a long breath—and admire it. The particular journey which I was undertaking would have been in England something considerably less than a shilling fare. Hoping to be generous I proffered the driver an equivalent in English money to two shillings.

They are wonderfully nice fellows, these Americans. The only fault that is to be found with them is the too generous length to which their hospitality is liable to go in the direction of cock-tails.

They like to give you a bath of cock-tails, and if a bath should not suffice, they would think nothing of making a river for you.

For a moderate drinker like myself, their generosity is a little embarrassing, but as the point was emphasised that I could never have the assurance to say that I had been to America without tasting a cock-tail, I at last yielded to their persuasions, and, …

Through the whole of that vast assembly ran a thrill of great excitement, and photographers were there ready to take instantaneous pictures of the various positions of the fight with the lion. But no sooner did I enter the cage than the animal cowered down.

He knew that I was his master: and he refused to fight.

Feeling that the audience would be sadly disappointed, I tried to goad him on, but nothing would move him. Most beasts are cowards at heart, and this lion having met his match at the rehearsal, refused to budge.

But no sooner did I enter the cage than the animal cowered down. He knew that I was his master: and he refused to fight. Feeling that the audience would be sadly disappointed, I tried to goad him on, but nothing would move him.

Most beasts are cowards at heart, and this lion having met his match at the rehearsal, refused to budge.

At last I caught hold of his tail and twisted it. This was the only thing that moved him. As he made a bound towards me I dodged, swung round and picked him up, and then tossed him down. The fight lasted scarcely two minutes.