Favorite Quotes

“It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.”
-John Wooden

“Superficial knowledge breeds ignorance; true knowledge induces humility.”
-Yasir Qadhi

“I really think that living is the process of going from complete certainty to complete ignorance.”
– Richard Dreyfus

“It is historical continuity that maintains most assumptions, 
not repeated assessment of their validity.”
-Edward de Bono

“There is a principle which cannot fail to keep a person in everlasting ignorance. 
This principle is… contempt prior to examination!”
-William Paley

“Everyone is so interested in learning advanced techniques or information, 
but their grasp of the basics is so weak that they have nothing to build upon.”
-Dr. Mitch Simon

“Everyone is allowed to have an opinion,
but that doesn’t mean they’re qualified to.”
-John McDermott

“One of the biggest problems in the world today is that we have large groups of people
who will accept whatever they hear on the grapevine
just because it suits their worldview,
not because it’s actually true or because
they have evidence to support it.
The really striking thing is that it wouldn’t take much effort
 to establish validity in most of these cases,
but people prefer reassurance to research.”
-Neil deGrassse Tyson

“When you know HOW to think
it empowers you far beyond those
who know only WHAT to think.”
-Neil deGrassse Tyson

“Thinking is the hardest work there is,
which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.”
–Henry Ford

“If I asked people what they wanted, they’d say faster horses.”
-Attributed to Henry Ford

“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance.
It is the illusion of knowledge.”
 -Stephen Hawking

“The problem is not people are uneducated.
The problem is that people are educated just enough
to believe what they have been taught,
and not educated enough to question
anything from what they have been taught.”
-Richard Feynman, American physicist

“You can’t solve a problem with the same mind that created it.”
-Einstein

“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, 
and I’m not sure about the former.”  
-Einstein

“Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities.
The latter cannot understand it when a man does not submit to hereditary prejudices,
but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.”
–Einstein

“A scientific truth does not triumph
by convincing its opponents and making them see the light,
but rather because its opponents eventually die
and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.”
-Max Planck, Nobel Prize Recipient, Quantum Physicist

“The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result.
He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up.
His work is like that of the planter – for the future.
His duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and point the way.
He lives and labors and hopes.”
– Nikola Tesla

“Knowing facts and figures indicates a good memory, not unusual intelligence,
and it correlates with a desire to impress others or a bit of obsessive-compulsiveness.
In contrast, great intelligence reflects an exceptional ability to reason and
to process information, although it does require a fine memory as well.”
-Marilyn vos Savant

In·ge·nu·i·ty – noun
the quality of being clever, original, and inventive,
often in the process of applying ideas to solve problems or meet challenges;
informal thinking outside the box Ingenuity (Ingenium)
is the root Latin word for engineering.
Ingenuity involves the most complex human thought processes.

“There are no physical problems… only mental ones.”
-Byron Katie

“You are responsible for the EFFORT, but NOT the OUTCOME!”
-David Hawkins, MD, PhD

“It is human nature to support our current positions 
rather than modify, expand, or reverse them.”
-David Hawkins, MD, PhD

“We change the world not by what we say or do,
but as a consequence of what we have become.”
-David Hawkins, MD, PhD

“Although the human mind likes to believe
that it is ‘of course’ dedicated to truth, 
in reality, what it really seeks is confirmation
of what it already believes.”
-David Hawkins, MD, PhD

“You can only experience that which you resist.”
-David Hawkins, MD, PhD

“What you resist persists.”
-Carl Jung

“People only see what they are prepared to see.”
–Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Don’t worry about the haters.
They’re just angry because the truths you speak
contradict the lies they live.”
-Steve Maraboli

“The real voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes,
but in having new eyes.”
-Marcel Proust

“Each progressive spirit is opposed by a thousand mediocre minds 
appointed to guard the past.”
-Maurice Maeterlinck

“All truth goes through three phases.
First, it is ridiculed.
Second, it is violently opposed.
Finally, it is accepted as self-evident.”
-Arthur Schopenhauer 

Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (1818 – 1865)
was a Hungarian physician now known as an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures.
Described as the “savior of mothers”,
Semmelweis proposed the practice of washing
with chlorinated lime solutions in 1847 while working
in Vienna General Hospital’s First Obstetrical Clinic,
where doctors’ wards had three times the mortality of midwives’ wards.
Despite various publications of results where hand-washing
reduced mortality to below 1%,
Semmelweis’s observations conflicted with the established scientific
and medical opinions of the time and his ideas
were rejected by the medical community.
Some doctors were offended at the
suggestion that they should wash their hands
and Semmelweis could offer no acceptable scientific explanation for his findings.
In 1865, Semmelweis was committed to an asylum,
where he died at age 47 after being beaten by the guards,
only 14 days after he was committed.
Semmelweis’s practice earned widespread acceptance
only years after his death,
when Louis Pasteur confirmed the germ theory.

“The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem
those who think alike than those who think differently.”
-Friedrich Nietzsche

“All greats acts of genius began with the same consideration:
Do not be constrained by your present reality.”
-Leonardo da Vinci

The difference between someone guided by principle
and someone driven by bias:
A person who is guided by principle will stand up to his allies
and side with his “opponents” if truth and morality dictate it.
A person who is driven by bias will go to war against reality
in order to defend the identity of the heard.

Intellectual Honesty
Intellectual honesty is an applied method of problem solving
characterized by an unbiased, honest attitude
which can be demonstrated in a number of different ways
including but not limited to:
• One’s personal beliefs do not interfere with the pursuit of truth;
• Relevant facts and information are not purposefully omitted
even when such things may contradict one’s hypothesis;
• Facts are presented in an unbiased manner, and not twisted
to give misleading impressions or to support one view over another;
• Facts are recognized as contextual and are not extended
beyond the associated details or turned into universal truths;
• Causation is not confused with correlation;
• References, or earlier work, are acknowledged where possible, and plagiarism is avoided.

“The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie
– deliberate, contrived, and dishonest –
but the myth – persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.
Too often we hold fast to the clichés of our forebears.
We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations.
We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
–John F Kennedy

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
-George Bernard Shaw

“Beware of the most dangerous person in any industry,
the articulate incompetent.”
-Anonymous

“Beautiful words are not always truthful
and truthful words are not always beautiful.”
-Fortune Cookie

“Life is [perceived as] a series of problems: Either you are in one now,
you’re just coming out of one, or you’re getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.
God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.
We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that’s not the goal of life.
The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.”
-Rick Warren

“Taking responsibility is the key to changing your life.
Life here is not to make you happy.
Life here is to make you conscious.”
–Eckhart Tolle

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet.
Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened,
vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”
-Helen Keller

“If for a while the harder you try, the harder it gets, take heart.
So it has been with the best people who have ever lived.”
-Jeffrey R. Holland

“Resentment is the poison YOU drink to kill somebody else.”
-Wayne Dyer, PhD

“What you hold in mind… what you place your attention on… tends to manifest, grow, happen.
So be very careful what you focus on.
Don’t focus on the way things are unless you want more of it.”  
-Wayne Dyer, PhD

“In any relationship in which two people agree on everything,
one of them is unnecessary.”
-Wayne Dyer”

“The growth of knowledge depends entirely upon disagreement.”
–Karl Popper

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people”
– Eleanor Roosevelt

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning,
but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…
it’s about learning to dance in the rain”
-Vivian Greene

“Don’t ask what the world needs.
Ask what makes you come alive and go do it.
Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
–Howard Thurman

“Poor planning on your part doesn’t constitute an emergency on my part.”
-Bob Carter

“Some people think that when a lot of things go wrong,
all of which are small and insignificant,
that it’s to protect something perfect that wants to come into your life.”
-Carolyn Myss

“The ability to discipline yourself
to delay gratification in the short term
in order to enjoy greater rewards in the long term
is the indispensable prerequisite for success.”
-Maxwell Maltz

“The outcome of an event is much less significant than 
what we become through the experience of the event.”
-Gregg Braden

“Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world.  
For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.”
-Margaret Mead (1901-1978) Anthropologist

“Self-importance makes it necessary to remain offended for the rest of life.”
-Deepok Chopra

“He who knows much about others may be learned,
but he who understands himself is more intelligent.
He who controls others may be powerful,
but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.”
-Lao Tsu

“To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others.”
-Buddha

“It’s a moral imperative!”
-Chris Knight,  Real Genius

“Your focus needs more focus”
-Mr. Han, Karate Kid 2010

“The first guy thru the wall… he always gets bloody…”
-John Henry, Moneyball

“Every great thing starts out a little scary…”
-R, Warm bodies

“Fear is the mind killer.”
-Paul Atreides,  Dune

“Without change, something sleeps inside us and seldom awakens.
The sleeper must awaken!”
–Duke Lito Atreates, Dune

“It’s not a Tumah!”
-Detective John Kimble, Kindergarten Cop

“Don’t bite my finger; look where I am pointing.”
-Warren McCullogh, neurophysiologist, 1899-1969

“You have enemies? Good.
That means you’ve stood up for something sometime in your life.“
–Winston Churchill

“When in doubt, make a fool of yourself.
There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative
and acting like the most gigantic idiot.
So what the hell, leap!”
-Cynthia Heimel

“Those who dance will be thought quite mad by those who cannot yet hear the music.”
-old proverb made popular by George Carlin

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
–Thomas Edison

“The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.”
-Stephen Wright

“A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man,
which he proposes to pay off with your money.”
-G. Gordon Liddy

“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government
from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
-Thomas Jefferson

“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings.
The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.”
-Winston Churchill

“When the people find that they can vote themselves money
that will herald the end of the republic.”
 -Benjamin Franklin

“Ignorance is never out of style. It was in fashion yesterday.
It is the rage today, and it will set the pace tomorrow.”
-Frank Dane

“Exercise alone provides psychological and physical benefits.
However, if you also adopt a strategy
that engages the mind while you exercise,
you can get a whole host of psychological benefits fairly quickly.”
–James Rippe, MD

“There must be a few people who are not idiots,
but they follow the advice of idiots, listen to idiots,
and train in a fashion that can only be described as idiotic.”
– Arthur Jones

“One of the few things that I can say without the slightest reservation
is the fact that meaningful communication of ideas
is the most difficult thing you will ever attempt.
And it matters very little how simple the idea may be;
things that should be obvious to a goat, and probably are obvious to a cat,
still leaves many people in a state of hopeless confusion.
You can make many people ‘believe’ almost any damned thing,
no matter how ridiculous it may be,
but making them ‘understand’ it is another matter entirely.”
-Arthur Jones

“A workout is NOT PENANCE!
It is NOT punishment or a sentence!
It does NOT buy you caloric REWARD!
It is NOT a mindless, robotic, “just do it” routine!
And alone, a single workout provides nothing of value!
An appropriate workout is a strategic challenge
designed to ‘nudge the homeostatic needle’ toward the goal!!
And it is only as valuable as how it relates to the one before it and the one after it.
-Tom Purvis

“If you really want to understand ‘physical’ fitness,
and certainly the risk:benefit of any and every ‘physical’ activity
you must have a basic understanding of and healthy respect for
the primary body altering stimulus (and root of the word physical)… ‘physics’!”
-Tom Purvis

“A workout is NOT a get rich quick scheme! It’s a progressive investment.
It is your chance to invest in and insure the quality of the gift of LIFE!
And research has shown that investors that think long-term
make the best short-term decisions. Invest wisely!”
-Tom Purvis

“Multi-tasking is another term for lack of focus.”
-Tom Purvis

“Avoid overconfidence! Avoid autopilot!
Seek clarity and maintain context!
And always question yourself first!”
-Tom Purvis

“Embrace what the world calls ‘failures’!
They’re the lessons required for long term and reproducible success.
If you come to enjoy the process, they’re in no way negative.
Respond strategically and they will expand, evolve, and enrich you.
It’s all determined by what you do with each particular outcome.
It’s all trial and error, ‘Chutes and Ladders’.”
-Tom Purvis

“I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
-Michael Jordan

“Don’t practice until you get it right, practice until you cannot get it wrong”
-Julie Andrews, etal

“The only way to swim fast when you get older is to have great technique.
The only way to have great technique is to swim slow.”
–Jack Roach, US Olympic swim coach

“Sports and fitness have nothing to do with each other.
In sports we try to ring every drop of performance out of an athlete.”
-Gregory Haff, PhD

“Athletes should wait several years to even begin plyometrics.
They must have a foundation of strength first.
In fact strengthening alone will increase power in the first few years.”
-Gregory Haff, PhD

“Strength is a requirement for performance.
Look at it this way… regardless of your level of skill,
if your strength declines your performance declines.”
-Gregory Haff, PhD

“Oh, god, where do I begin?
I’d have to say that everything that led to my heart problem began the minute I started getting serious
about competitive bodybuilding. I have so many memories of doing unspeakable things to my body…
—steroids, growth hormones, diuretics—anything and everything that we as bodybuilders do
to achieve a certain look.” It has affected my whole life so to all those guys who are on an eternal quest to
have 21 arms and 20 calves, and who are so vain about their never-say-die attitude, I say,
“Change your attitude!” Worry about keeping that body of yours as healthy as possible,
because it’s going to have to last you not just through your next contest or to the end of your
bodybuilding contract, but for a long time. And a long time for a human being is nothing.
It goes by real quick, even quicker when your health is gone and you have nothing to live for.”
-Mike Matarazzo (1965-2014), IFBB pro

“Success is NOT about motivation.
Motivation is temporary.
It’s about COMMITMENT!”
-Craig Harper

“You will always be too much of something for someone: too big, too loud, too soft, too edgy.
If you round out your edges, you lose your edge. 
Apologize for mistakes. Apologize for unintentionally hurting someone – profusely.
But don’t apologize for being who you are.”
-Danielle Laporte

“What we think, we become.”
–Buddha

“As ye think, so shall ye be.”
-Jesus Christ

“I hate people.” -Elaine
“They’re the worst!” -Jerry

“Lions do not concern themselves with the opinions of sheep.”
-George RR Martin, Author, A Game of Thrones

“Efficiency: each thing has a relationship to the others in its place in the whole. No part can be missed and no relationship
between the parts may be turned around. One is not better than the other.
“There is no reason to afford one part more lustre over another.”
-Piet Klaarhammer, Dutch architect,
Lecture on efficiency held on 12/10/1913 for the Utrecht members
of the Architectura et Amicitia society. (paraphrased)

“In exercise, as in the human body, there is no single culprit… no “most important” part or process. There are multiple influences in EVERYTHING! So if you think you found “THE” answer, either you simple don’t yet understand,
or you don’t have the capacity!”
-Tom Purvis

“Masters always ask themselves ‘What am I missing?’ Posers and amateurs think ‘I’ve got it!”
-Tom Purvis

“Avoid using soundbites! They are incomplete, do not provide context, lack the disclaimers
required to be true, and usually are used by those who are incapable of supporting
what they think the soundbite represents.”
-Tom Purvis

“In an evidence based practice the only evidence that matters ethically
is the response of your client or patient!
Clearly the research didn’t include the current status and tolerances
of the individual for whom you are responsible!
On fact, research commonly excludes the results of the extremes…
which may represent the very people
that may comprise your practice.
Your client responds as an idiosyncratic individual, not a demographic!
-Tom Purvis

“Assumption, predication, and pre-determination are for the mindless
and far below the realm of the true exercise professional!
-Tom Purvis

“You don’t learn how to be a masterful exercise professional
until you have clients that can’t do anything you ask them to!”
-Tom Purvis

“Mastery: for all your seeming successes you still continually look for minute by minute opportunities
to improves your skills, thought processes, and recognize your mistakes. Consider that just because
something seems to work, doesn’t mean it’s the best or only way! In fact, with further exploration
you may find while solving a problem, it was the least efficient and effective way.
-Tom Purvis

“Over the past 40 years it’s been interesting to watch things of exercise world come, go…
only to re-surface again as “new”. Last year a training manager of a major chain told
one of my students that “the new up-and-coming thing as isometrics”.
The exercise “aficionados” and self-proclaimed social media “experts” of today think they
invented everything because they know absolutely nothing about the history.
Very, very few “new” things have been “invented” or discovered in exercise in the last 20 years is new.
It’s just ignorance of the past!”
-Tom Purvis

“All the problems we face today in this country can be traced to
an unenlightened immigration policy on the part of the American Indians.”
-Pat Paulsen