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

’8) “I just use my muscles as a conversation piece, like someone walking a cheetah down 42nd Street.”

7) “What we face may look insurmountable. But I learned something from all those years of training and competing. I learned something from all those sets and reps when I didn’t think I could lift another ounce of weight. What I learned is that we are always stronger than we know.”

6) “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 in any way – I hope it never will.”

5) “It would make me sick to miss a workout … I knew I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror the next morning if I didn’t do it.”

4) “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.”

3) “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.”

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

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

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