Arnold Schwarzenegger Quotes

• "And now, of course this is another thing I didn't count on, that now as the governor of the state of California, I am selling California worldwide. You see that? Selling."
• "And so I could feel, on the campaign trail, not just the great rushing joy of politics but the deeper joy of patriotism. This is a wonderful feeling, I think the most important feeling in a democracy."
• "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."
• "As you know, I don't need to take any money from anybody."
• "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."
• "Bodybuilding is much like any other sport. To be successful, you must dedicate yourself 100% to your training, diet and mental approach."
• "Everything I have, my career, my success, my family, I owe to America."
• "Failure is not an option. Everyone has to succeed."
• "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."
• "Freedom is a right ultimately defended by the sacrifice of America's servicemen and women."
• "From the time they get up in the morning and flush the toilet, they're taxed. Then they go and get the cup of coffee, they're taxed....This goes on all day long. Tax, tax, tax."
• "Government's first duty and highest obligation is public safety."
• "Gray Davis can run a dirty campaign better than anyone, but he can't run a state."
• "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."
• "I am a big believer in education, because when I grew up in Austria - when I grew up in Austria I had a great education. I had great teachers."
• "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."
• "I can promise you that when I go to Sacramento, I will pump up Sacramento."
• "I didn't leave bodybuilding until I felt that I had gone as far as I could go. It will be the same with my film career. When I feel the time is right, I will then consider public service. I feel that the highest honor comes from serving people and your country."
• "I feel good because I believe I have made progress in rebuilding the people's trust in their government."
• "I have a love interest in every one of my films - a gun."
• "I have inhaled, exhaled everything."
• "I just use my muscles as a conversation piece, like someone walking a cheetah down 42nd Street."
• "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."
• "I know a lot of athletes and models are written off as just bodies. I never felt used for my body."
• "I saw a woman wearing a sweatshirt with Guess on it. I said, Thyroid problem?"
• "I speak directly to the people, and I know that the people of California want to have better leadership. They want to have great leadership. They want to have somebody that will represent them. And it doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or a Republican, young or old."
• "I think that gay marriage should be between a man and a woman."
• "I told Warren if he mentions Prop. 13 one more time, he has to do 500 push-ups."
• "I walked down the aisle as Conan the Barbarian and walked back up again as Arnold the Meek."
• "I was born in Europe... and I've traveled all over the world. I can tell you that there is no place, no country, that is more compassionate, more generous, more accepting, and more welcoming than the United States of America."
• "I welcome and seek your ideas, but do not bring me small ideas; bring me big ideas to match our future."
• "I'll be back."
• "I've seen firsthand coming here with empty pockets but full of dreams, full of desire, full of will to succeed, but with the opportunities that I had, I could make it. This is why we have to get back and bring California back to where it once was."
• "If it's hard to remember, it'll be difficult to forget."
• "If you work hard and play by the rules, this country is truly open to you. You can achieve anything."
• "In our society, the women who break down barriers are those who ignore limits."
• "In this country, it doesn't make any difference where you were born. It doesn't make any difference who your parents were. It doesn't make any difference if, like me, you couldn't even speak English until you were in your twenties."
• "It doesn't matter what the income level of your family is, or if English is the first or second language. It makes no difference. The bottom line is that every child can be an academic champion, an academic champion and a superstar in academics."
• "It is time to make our representatives more responsive to the people who elect them."
• "It's simple, if it jiggles, it's fat."
• "It's the most difficult [decision] I've made in my entire life, except the one I made in 1978 when I decided to get a bikini wax."
• "Just last week I traveled with both of them to Washington to meet with the leaders in Congress, and we reminded them that California is at the tip of the spear of our nation's military capability, that we do it all."
• "Last year we stopped the bleeding. This year we must heal the patient."
• "Learned helplessness is the giving-up reaction, the quitting response that follows from the belief that whatever you do doesn't matter."
• "Maria is the best reason to come home."
• "Milk is for babies. When you grow up you have to drink beer."
• "Money doesn't make you happy. I now have $50 million but I was just as happy when I had $48 million."
• "My body is like breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I don't think about it, I just have it."
• "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 California and stand in Madison Square Garden to speak on behalf of the President of the United States that is an immigrant's dream. It is the American dream."
• "My friend James Cameron and I made three films together - True Lies, The Terminator and Terminator 2. Of course, that was during his early, low-budget, art-house period."
• "My own dreams fortunately came true in this great state. I became Mr. Universe; I became a successful businessman. And even though some people say I still speak with a slight accent, I have reached the top of the acting profession."
• "My relationship to power and authority is that I'm all for it. People need somebody to watch over them. Ninety-five percent of the people in the world need to be told what to do and how to behave."
• "No matter the nationality, no matter the religion, no matter the ethnic background, America brings out the best in people."
• "One of my movies was called "True Lies." It's what the Democrats should have called their convention."
• "People are always making a fuss over my $15-20-million salaries. Believe me, the amount is meaningless once my wife, Maria, finds out about it. She's already spent half of my salary from Terminator 7!"
• "Political courage is not political suicide."
• "Start wide, expand further, and never look back."
• "Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength."
• "The best activities for your health are pumping and humping."
• "The biggest problem that we have is that California is being run now by special interests. All of the politicians are not anymore making the moves for the people, but for special interests and we have to stop that."
• "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."
• "The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent."
• "The resistance that you fight physically in the gym and the resistance that you fight in life can only build a strong character."
• "The success I have achieved in bodybuilding, motion pictures, and business would not have been possible without the generosity of the American people and the freedom here to pursue your dreams."
• "The worst thing I can be is the same as everybody else. I hate that."
• "There is no better place to be a woman with hopes and dreams than California. The jobs are better paying and more fulfilling and California is a much better place because of that."
• "There is no place, no country, more compassionate more generous more accepting and more welcoming than the United States of America."
• "To restore the trust of the people, we must reform the way the government operates."
• "To think that a once scrawny boy from Austria could grow up to become Governor of the State of California and stand here in Madison Square Garden to speak on behalf of the President of the United States that is an immigrant's dream. It is the American dream."
• "To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say, Don't be economic girlie men!"
• "Training gives us an outlet for suppressed energies created by stress and thus tones the spirit just as exercise conditions the body."
• "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."
• "We are a forward-looking people, and we must have a forward-looking government."
• "We have to make sure everyone in California has a great job. A fantastic job!"
• "We want to make sure children aren't left without any books. We want to make sure our children have the books, that they have a place in the castle. We want to make sure that their mothers have affordable day care. We want to make sure we give the older people the care that they need."
• "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."
• "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."
• "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."
• "Women are the engine driving the growth in California's economy. Women make California's economy unique."
• "You can scream at me, call me for a shoot at midnight, keep me waiting for hours - as long as what ends up on the screen is perfect."
• "You can't reason with people blinded by hate. They hate the power of the individual. They hate the progress of women. They hate the religious freedom of others. They hate the liberating breeze of democracy. But ladies and gentlemen, their hate is no match for America's decency."
• "You can't tell a kid that it's time to exercise; that's a turn-off...you have to say 'Let's go to the park and have some fun.' Then you get them to do some running, play on the swings, practice on the balance beam, basically get a full workout disguised as play."
• "You know, nothing is more important than education, because nowhere are our stakes higher; our future depends on the quality of education of our children today."
• "Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength."
• "You can scream at me, call me for a shoot at midnight, keep me waiting for hours - as long as what ends up on the screen is perfect."
• "Training gives us an outlet for suppressed energies created by stress and thus tones the spirit just as exercise conditions the body."
• "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."
• "The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent."
• "My body is like breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I don't think about it, I just have it."
• "My own dreams fortunately came true in this great state. I became Mr. Universe; I became a successful businessman. And even though some people say I still speak with a slight accent, I have reached the top of the acting profession."