Quotes from Joseph Pilates

I learned...every part of the body; I would move each part as I memorized it. As a child, I would lie in the woods for hours, hiding and watching the animals move, how the mother taught the young.

Physical fitness can neither be acquired by wishful thinking nor by outright purchase.

We retire too early and we die too young, our prime of life should be in the 70's and old age should not come until we are almost 100.

Patience and persistence are vital qualities in the ultimate successful accomplishment of any worthwhile endeavor.

The mind, when housed within a healthful body, possesses a glorious sense of power.

Self-confidenc e, poise, consciousness of possessing the power to accomplish our desires, with renewed lively interest in life are the natural results of the practice of Contrology [Pilates].

Everyone is the architect of their own happiness

Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness.

Not only is health a normal condition, but it is our duty not only to attain it but to maintain it.

Every moment of our life can be the beginning of great things.

I must be right. Never an aspirin. Never injured a day in my life. The whole country, the whole world, should be doing my exercises. They'd be happier.

Before any real benefit can be derived from physical exercises, one must first learn how to breath properly. Our very life depends on it.

Breathing is the first act of life, and the last.

The acquirement and enjoyment of physical well-being, mental calm and spiritual peace are priceless to their possessors.

Concentrate on the correct movements each time you exercise, lest you do them improperly and thus lose all the vital benefits of their value.

I'm fifty years ahead of my time.

Physical fitness can neither be achieved by wishful thinking nor outright purchase.

Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness.

Telephones, automobiles, and economic pressure all combine to create physical letdown and mental stress so great that today practically no home is entirely free from sufferers of some form of nervous tension.

the term "play" as we use it here, embraces every possible form of PLEASURABLE LIVING.

Lazy breathing converts the lungs, figuratively speaking, into a cemetery for the deposition of diseased, dying, and dead germs as well as supplying an ideal haven for the multiplication of other harmful germs.

Time and progress are synonymous terms--nothing can stop either. Truth will prevail and that is why I know that my teachings will reach the masses and finally be adopted as universal.

Americans! They want to go 600 miles an hour, and they don't know how to walk! Look at them in the street. Bent over. Coughing! Young men with gray faces! Why can't they look at the animals? Look at a cat. Look at any animal. The only animal that doesn't hold its stomach in is the pig.

Man should develop his physical condition simultaneously with that of his mind.