“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.”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“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.
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“Kurt Marnul can win Mr. Austria," I thought, "and he's already told me that I could too if I train hard, so that's what I'm going to do." This thought made the hours of lifting tons of steel and iron actually a joy. Every painful set, every extra rep, was a step toward my goal of winning Mr. Austria and entering the Mr. Europe competition.”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“Positive thinking can be contagious. Being surrounded by winners helps you develop into a winner.”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“He had a voice you couldn't miss: strong and penetrating with strange vowels that sounded different from the accents of other English speakers even to me. I later discovered that he was Canadian.”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“I never felt that I was good enough, strong enough, smart enough. He 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.”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“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.”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“The Running Man is a sci-fi action story based on a novel by Stephen King, built around a nightmare vision of America in 2017—thirty years from when we were shooting. The economy is in a depression, and the United States has become a fascist state where the government uses TV and giant screens in the neighborhoods to distract people from the fact that nobody has a job.”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“I think that gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a woman.”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“My fellow Republicans acted like they’d been punched in the stomach. “You have them on the ropes, go in for the kill!” they said. This was my first real taste of the new Republican ideology that any compromise is a sign of weakness.”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“The difference between those who adapted and those who didn't, Gorton said, was a willingness to totally commit.”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“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.”
―
Arnold Schwarzenegger
