Best quotes by Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Austrian-American actor, former bodybuilder, film producer, businessman, and former politician

Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian-American actor, former bodybuilder, film producer, businessman, and former politician who served as the 38th governor of California from 2003 to 2011. As of January 2022, he is the most recent Republican governor of California.

Schwarzenegger began lifting weights at the age of 15 and went on to win the Mr. Universe title at age 20, subsequently winning the Mr. Olympia contest seven times; he remains a prominent figure in bodybuilding, and has written many books and articles on it. The Arnold Sports Festival, considered the second-most important bodybuilding event after Mr. Olympia, is named after him. He appeared in the bodybuilding documentary Pumping Iron (1977). After retiring from bodybuilding, Schwarzenegger gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action film star, with his breakthrough the sword-and-sorcery epic Conan the Barbarian (1982), a box-office hit that resulted in a sequel in 1984. He then appeared as the title character in the successful sci-fi film The Terminator (1984), reprising similar characters in the sequels Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Terminator Genisys (2015), and Terminator: Dark Fate (2019). He starred in other successful action films such as Commando (1985), The Running Man (1987), Predator (1987), Total Recall (1990), and True Lies (1994), in addition to comedy films such as Twins (1988), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), and Jingle All the Way (1996), and the buddy cop action film Red Heat (1988). He is the founder of the film production company Oak Productions.

As a Republican candidate, Schwarzenegger was first elected on October 7, 2003, in a special recall election to replace then-Governor Gray Davis. He received 48.6% of the vote, 17 points ahead of Democrat runner-up Cruz Bustamante. He was sworn in on November 17 to serve the remainder of Davis' term, and was re-elected in the 2006 California gubernatorial election with an increased vote share of 55.9% to serve a full term as governor. In 2011, he reached his term limit as Governor and returned to acting.

Schwarzenegger was nicknamed the "Austrian Oak" in his bodybuilding days, "Arnie" or "Schwarzy" during his acting career, and "The Governator" (a portmanteau of "Governor" and "Terminator") during his political career. He married Maria Shriver, a niece of President John F. Kennedy, in 1986. They separated in 2011 after he admitted to having fathered a child with their housemaid in 1997, and their divorce was finalized in 2021.

Arnold Schwarzenegger quotes by category:

All CategoriesAbout successAbout motivationAbout goalsAbout failuresAbout confidenceAbout bodybuildingAbout divorceAbout trainingAbout Los AngelesAbout acting workAbout himself/herselfAbout womanAbout drivingAbout freedomAbout artAbout marriageAbout fearAbout jealousy

You have to think outside the box.

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 conquer.

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

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

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.

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.

Trust yourself,..dig deep down and ask yourself who you want to be? Not what, but who?

It all comes from the mind. I've seen the most incredible success stories because a person had a dream and it was so powerful no one could touch it. He'd feel it, believe it, think about it all day and night. That would inspire him to do things necessary to get the results he wanted.

Stay hungry, stay healthy, be a gentleman, believe strongly in yourself and go beyond limitations.

I can zero in on a vision of where I want to be in the future. I can see it so clearly in front of me, when I daydream, it's almost a reality. Then I get this easy feeling, and I don't have to be uptight to get there because I already feel like I'm there, that it's just a matter of time.

The general definition of being muscle-bound is that you have so many muscles that you can't move freely. I don't know of any bodybuilder in that category; in fact, many of them are quite active in other sports.

Normal people can be happy with a regular life, but there is more to life than just plodding through an average existence.

As long as I live, I will never forget that day 21 years ago when I raised my hand and took the oath of citizenship. Do you know how proud I was? I was so proud that I walked around with an American flag around my shoulders all day long.

I comfortably can say that I am a Republican and I always will be a Republican because the Republican party is a big tent and there was not always things that I agreed with or they didn't agree with me many times. But the fact of the matter is that's the philosophy, and everything that I've heard is exactly the same.

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.

So let me tell you, as you prepare to go off into the world, remember six rules: Trust yourself, Break some rules, Don't be afraid to fail, Ignore the naysayers, Work like hell, and Give something back.

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. There’s a legend behind every legacy, there’s a blueprint behind every legend.

I remember one guy, Reg Park, a British bodybuilder, who entered Mr Universe when he was very young. But he won it and continued to win it a second and third time. So, he was my idol. I read everything about Reg Park and followed his footsteps and trained like him. I said if he could make it, I could make it. It was a blueprint, basically, for how to get there, to win the championships.

Climate change: I say the debate is over. We know the science, we see the threat and we know that the time for action is now

I'm a competitive bodybuilder; I'm not training just to be healthy. Ninety-five percent of the people training with weights are into this health thing, and it's a different mentality entirely.

Ninety percent of the people don't realize that there is anything below the head. They think that the head is carried around by something very mysterious, and they're not aware that it's the body, something they should be in tune with.

Most bodybuilders only have a hazy notion of what they want to look like. They do not say, 'I am going to be a winner.' The negative impulses around the gym can be incredible. I would hear bodybuilders complaining, 'Oh,no! Not another set!' That destroyed them. I have always believed that if you're training for nothing, you're wasting your effort!

Experiencing pain in your muscles and aching, that's what makes the muscle grow. and that divides one from being a champion and one from not being a champion. If you can go through this pain barrier, you may get to be a champion. If You can't go through it, forget it.

I've heard all my life that 'this is impossible, you can't make' it and 'you're going to fail' but I didn't listen to them and I made it.

If I see a girl with big tits, I'm going to stare and stare. And I'm going to think in my mind what I am going to do with her if I would have her.

Luck is for the ill-prepared.

Obviously, I've made statements that were ludicrous and crazy and outrageous and all those things, because that's the way I always was.

Don't be afraid of making decisions.

Kids nowadays...tend to go overboard [on] protein - something I believe to be totally unnecsssary...[I state in] my formula for basic good eating: Eat about one gram of protein for every two pounds of body weight.

The Arabs are terrorists and Israel is making the world a safer place.Well done Israel.

Having a pump is like having sex. I train two, sometimes three times a day. Each time I get a pump. It's great. I feel like I'm coming all day.

Gray Davis can run a dirty campaign better than anyone, but he can't run a state.

Bodybuilders and fitness people have been using chiropractic very extensively in order to stay healthy and fit. I found it was better to go to a chiropractor before you get injured. We are a perfect team, the world of fitness and the world of chiropractors.

As you know, I'm an immigrant. I came over here as an immigrant, and what gave me the opportunities, what made me to be here today, is the open arms of Americans. I have been received. I have been adopted by America.

If you have the attitude of a young person and you work like a young person and you keep your body in shape, and if you believe that you can do it, then you can actually make other people also believe that you can do it.

No matter what you do, you first have to have a vision... to see your goal, to believe in it, have faith in it and chase it. And then it's fun to chase it. If you don't have a goal or a vision, then you have nothing.

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

People need to be insured so when you have an accident out there, or when something catastrophic happens to you, that you're covered and there's not someone else has to pay for you. That is as simple as that.

I believe with all my heart that America remains 'the great idea' that inspires the world. It is a privilege to be born here. It is an honor to become a citizen here. It is a gift to raise your family here, to vote here, and to live here.

As a kid I always idolized the winning athletes. It is one thing to idolize heroes. It is quite another to visualize yourself in their place. When I saw great people, I said to myself: I can be there.

Every year I make a plan. I do it. It will be done.

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

It doesn't matter what party you come from. The key thing is that you work on behalf of the people rather than on behalf of the party.

I make my protein drink with whiskey. People think I'm crazy, but that's the way I am. I get stoned, I do my own thing.

I do not make decisions [as governor] based on what have I learned through my Bible studies, what have I learned in my religious classes in school. I'm a big believer in separation of church and state, and I think that's what . . . the law is.

The key to success? Work hard, stay focused and marry a Kennedy.

I hurt so many people.

While others were out partying, I was training. While they were out dancing at the clubs, I was training... and training... and training.

Through discipline, and determination one can change anything and everything about him - his habits, his outlook on life

The writing is important, but the way you say the line and the pause you give it, the facial expression - all of that is very important.

When the people become involved in their government, government becomes more accountable, and our society is stronger, more compassionate, and better prepared for the challenges of the future.

The facts are there that we have created, man has, a self-inflicted wound that man has created through global warming.

Political courage is not political suicide.

Vision creates faith and faith creates willpower.

There is nothing like chess to keep the brain smart, and give it a workout.

You can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent.

I think the first and most important thing is that you've got to have a goal and a vision.

If it's hard to remember, it'll be difficult to forget.

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

Discipline is what you use when you don't want to do something, when you have to force yourself.

You never want to fail because you didn't work hard enough.

My wife (Maria) is the best reason to come home.

I'm obsessed with packing in as much work as possible during each day, simply because there is only so much time you have in a lifetime. There is nothing better than to go home at night and know that you've done everything that you could do to accomplish your work.

Do you have to discipline yourself to have breakfast, lunch or dinner? Of course not; and so discipline - the usual concept of it - doesn't apply here. I had to discipline myself to learn English, but never to train.

Everything I have, my career, my success, my family, I owe to America.

I have a love interest in every one of my films: a gun.

When I was 15-years-old, I took off my clothes and looked in the mirror. When I stared at myself naked, I realized that to be perfectly proportioned I would need twenty-inch arms to match the rest of me.

Start wide, expand further, and never look back.

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.

I do squats until I fall over and pass out. So what? It’s not going to kill me. I wake up five minutes later and I’m OK

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.

There are some girls who are turned on by my body, and some others who are turned off. but for the majority i just use it as a conversation piece. like someone walking a cheetah down 42nd street would have a natural conversation piece. then when they get to talking to me they see i am not mean but gentle to them and thats all they want to know

The greatest feeling you can get in a gym or the most satisfying feeling you can get in the gym is the pump. It feels fantastic. It's as satisfying to me as cumming is, you know, as in having sex with a woman and cumming. So can you believe how much I am in heaven? I am like getting the feeling of cumming in the gym; I'm getting the feeling of cumming at home; I'm getting the feeling of cumming backstage; when I pump up, when I pose out in front of 5000 people I get the same feeling, so I am cumming day and night. It's terrific, right? So you know, I am in heaven.

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

Those public employee union bosses think they already control the legislators, they already control everyone up there in Sacramento, and now, because they have the money, they want to control all of you, .. They want to raise your taxes. It's all going in that direction -- raising your taxes. But I'm here as your warrior, remember that. I want to protect you.