Quotes about fitness
page 10

James Frazer photo
Aaron Copland photo
James Hamilton photo
Calvin Coolidge photo
Jefferson Davis photo
Frederick Buechner photo
Edward Payson photo
David Fincher photo
Tom Brady photo
Thomas Hobbes photo
Sania Mirza photo

“Fitness is defined differently by everyone, but for me, the most important thing is being healthy. As tennis players, what we do is not the healthiest thing. We almost abuse our bodies.”

Sania Mirza (1986) Indian tennis player

In Zee News: I quit singles to prolong my career, says Sania http://zeenews.india.com/sports/tennis/i-quit-singles-to-prolong-my-career-says-sania_757389.html, 2 March 2013

John Burroughs photo
Anthony Burgess photo
Nathanael Greene photo
Malcolm Fraser photo

“The prime minister, because of his unreasoned drive to get his own way, his obstinacy, impetuous and emotional reactions, has imposed strains upon the Liberal Party, the government and the public service. I do not believe he is fit to hold the great office of prime minister, and I cannot serve in his government.”

Malcolm Fraser (1930–2015) Australian politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Australia

Fraser resigning from cabinet on 8 March 1971 and denouncing John Gorton's leadership http://australianpolitics.com/1971/03/09/malcolm-frasers-resignation-speech.html

Earl Warren photo
Jean de La Bruyère photo
Ralph Waldo Emerson photo

“Of course, he who has put forth his total strength in fit actions, has the richest return of wisdom.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

1830s, The American Scholar http://www.emersoncentral.com/amscholar.htm (1837)

Herman Cain photo
Bruce Fein photo

“Hillary Clinton is a clear and present danger to the Constitution, the rule of law, and international peace and security. Her eagerness for war, i. e., legalized murder, to create an image of adolescent toughness makes her a worse fit for the Presidency than would Lady Macbeth.”

Bruce Fein (1947) American lawyer

Bruce Fein, Hillary Clinton: Unfit for the Presidency, Huffington Post, October 16, 2015 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-fein/hillary-clinton-unfit-for_b_8313372.html

Thomas Hobbes photo
Warren G. Harding photo
Viktor Brack photo

“Dear Reichsführer, among 10's of millions of Jews in Europe, there are, I figure, at least 2-3 millions of men and women who are fit enough to work. Considering the extraordinary difficulties the labor problem presents us with, I hold the view that those 2-3 millions should be specially selected and preserved. This can however only be done if at the same time they are rendered incapable to propagate. About a year ago I reported to you that agents of mine have completed the experiments necessary for this purpose. I would like to recall these facts once more. Sterilization, as normally performed on persons with hereditary diseases is here out of the question, because it takes too long and is too expensive. Castration by X-ray however is not only relatively cheap, but can also be performed on many thousands in the shortest time. I think that at this time it is already irrelevant whether the people in question become aware of having been castrated after some weeks or months, once they feel the effects. Should you, Reichsführer, decide to choose this way in the interest of the preservation of labor, then Reichsleiter Bouhler would be prepared to place all physicians and other personnel needed for this work at your disposal. Likewise he requested me to inform you that then I would have to order the apparatus so urgently needed with the greatest speed. Heil Hitler! Yours, Viktor Brack.”

Viktor Brack (1904–1948) SS officer

Letter written to Heinrich Himmler (23 June 1942).

Kent Hovind photo

“All these riches, then, of her theology the Church has acquired, one might almost say, like the British Empire, in a fit of absence of mind. She was so busy scrapping with the heretics that she wasn't conscious of saying anything she hadn't always said; and yet, when she had time to sit down and look about her, she found it took ten minutes to sing the Credo instead of three.”

Ronald Knox (1888–1957) English priest and theologian

The Hidden Stream (1952). London: Burns Oates, p. 142.
Knox alludes to John Robert Seeley's much-quoted statement in The Expansion of England (1883) that "we seem, as it were, to have conquered half the world in a fit of absence of mind".

“Language, intelligence, and humor, along with art, generosity, and musical ability, are often described as human equivalents of the peacock’s tail. However, peacocks afford a poor analogy for the role of courtship displays in humans. Other animal models offer a better fit. In a number of nonhuman species — species as diverse as sea dragons and grebes — males and females engage in a mutual courtship “dance,” in which the two partners mirror one another’s movements. In Clark’s grebes and Western grebes, for instance, the pair bond ritual culminates in the famous courtship rush: The male and female swim side by side along the top of the water, with their wings back and their heads and necks in a stereotyped posture. If we want a nonhuman analogue for the role of creative intelligence or humor in human courtship, we should think not of ornamented peacocks displaying while drab females evaluate them. We should think instead of grebes engaged in their mating rush or sea dragons engaged in their synchronized mirror dance. Once we have one of these alternative images fixed in our minds, we can then add the proviso that there is a slight skew such that, in the early stages of courtship, men tend to display more vigorously and women tend to be choosier. However, this should be seen as a qualification to the primary message that intelligence, humor, and other forms of sexual display are part of the mutual courtship process in our species.”

Source: The Ape that Thought It Was a Peacock: Does Evolutionary Psychology Exaggerate Human Sex Differences? (2013), p. 160

Ernest Hemingway photo
Jean Dubuffet photo
Richard Blackmore photo
Sam Harris photo
Patrik Baboumian photo
Phil Brooks photo

“Punk: I'm not gonna have you sit here and belittle me. Say I've lost sight? I've lost sight of things, John? The reason I say I'm gonna take that and walk out is because I don't fit a certain mold. Because I am the underdog, and that's exactly what you've lost sight of. Earlier in this ring, you mentioned great wrestlers like Eddie Guerrero and you said they used to look at you and say that the kid couldn't hang. And now you stand here and look at me as the kid that can't hang. John, I was hanging off of your gangster car, WrestleMania 22, as it rolled down in Chicago, Illinois, and I stood there in a suit looking as ridiculous as [points to Vince McMahon] that man looks right now in his suit, holding a phony Tommy gun, and I said to myself someday, I'm not gonna be standing out there watching you in the ring; I was gonna be in the ring watching you go down to CM Punk. And now here we are in your hometown of Boston. And now next week, we'll be back there in my hometown—Chicago, Illinois. And this… this is the part where I talk 'em into the building. See, you are the one that's lost sight, and I apologize for raising my voice because I'm not that guy. But when you stand here and tell me that I've lost sight, when you, the 10-time Champion who stands for hustle, loyalty and respect; who, from Boston, Massachusetts, lives and breathes these red colors, the same colors as your beloved Red Sox, who also portray themselves as the underdog, I'm sure just like the Bruins portray themselves as the underdog. Just like the Patriots think they're the underdog! Hey, how about those Celtics? Are they the underdogs too? Here's what you've lost sight of, John, and I'm really happy that your father and your wife are sitting in the front row so they can hear it!
John Cena: That's the last time I'm gonna tell you, man, ease up.
Punk: What you've lost sight of is what you are, and what you are is what you hate. You're the 10-time WWE Champion! You're the man! You, like the Red Sox, like Boston, are no longer the underdog! You're a dynasty. You are what you hate. You have become the New York Yankees! [John immediately punches Punk, who scoots out of the ring, grabs the contract, and goes up the ramp. Points respectively to Vince and John] You're Steinbrenner, and you might as well be Jeter! Mr. 3000, I'm the underdog! [John's music plays for fourteen seconds] Turn it off! Turn the music off because I have something to say, and I'm positive that everybody here wants to hear it, and everybody sitting at home has their DVRs fired up because they wanna hear it! I'm glad you just punched me in the face, John. I'm glad it went down this way because it hit me like a bolt of lightning—exactly why I no longer wanna be here, why I wanna leave. It's because I'm tired of this. I'm tired of you. I'm just tired. So ladies and gentlemen of the WWE Universe, Vince, John, Sunday night, say goodbye to the WWE Title, say goodbye to John Cena, and say goodbye to CM Punk! [Rips up the contract] I'll go be the best in the world somewhere else.”

Phil Brooks (1978) American professional wrestler and mixed martial artist

July 11, 2011
WWE Raw

Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston photo
Leon R. Kass photo
Phil Brown (footballer) photo
Heidi Klum photo
Nick Cave photo
Sarah McLachlan photo

“So what are we saying?
Our Eden's a failure.
A made-up story to fit the picture-perfect world.
The one with "I do"s and "I love you."
And "we are made for each other."”

Sarah McLachlan (1968) Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter

Is forever over now?
U Want Me 2, written by Sarah McLachlan and Pierre Marchand
Song lyrics, Closer: The Best of Sarah McLachlan (2008)

Max Horkheimer photo
Joe Biden photo
Pope Pius II photo
Jonathan Haidt photo
John Dryden photo

“Him of the western dome, whose weighty sense
Flows in fit words and heavenly eloquence.”

Pt. I, line 868.
The Hind and the Panther (1687)

Henry Ford photo
Asger Jorn photo
Thomas More photo
Henry Fountain Ashurst photo

“No man is fit to be a Senator… unless he is willing to surrender his political life for great principle.”

Henry Fountain Ashurst (1874–1962) United States Senator from Arizona

"Ashurst, Defeated, Reviews Service". New York Times (September 12, 1940), p. 18.

Robert A. Heinlein photo
William Ellery Channing photo
Indra Nooyi photo

“There were many times that I felt like a fish out of water, times that I really said to myself, 'do I even fit in.”

Indra Nooyi (1955) Indian-born, naturalized American, business executive

Quoted in How PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi gave up cricket for baseball!, 25 March 2012, 18 December 2013, Economic Times http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-05-25/news/31852241_1_ceo-indra-nooyi-bat-and-ball-sport-david-novak,

George Eliot photo
Bob Costas photo

“Tony Fernández, who has worn hero's laurels throughout the postseason, including earlier in this seventh game of the World Series—now, cruel as it may seem, perhaps being fitted for goat horns.”

Bob Costas (1952) American sportscaster

Calling a miscue by Cleveland Indians second baseman Tony Fernández in the 11th inning of Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, ultimately won by the Florida Marlins.

T. E. Hulme photo

“It is a delicate & difficult art fitting rhythm to an idea…communicating momentary phases in a poet's mind.”

T. E. Hulme (1883–1917) English Imagist poet and critic

Speculations (Essays, 1924)

Elton John photo

“In the instant that you love someone,
In the second that the hammer hits,
Reality runs up your spine,
And the pieces finally fit.”

Elton John (1947) English rock singer-songwriter, composer and pianist

The One
Song lyrics, The One (1992)

“I once believed that if organizations had a better fit between their technology and their structure, they would be more efficient and thus more profitable.”

Charles Perrow (1925–2019) American sociologist

Source: 1970s, "Three Types of Effectiveness Studies," 1977, p. 97

Shinji Mikami photo
Fred Polak photo
Joe Satriani photo
Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo

“Whether the queen caused the period, or the period creates the queen, she fitted her time perfectly.”

Florence Becker Lennon, The Life of Lewis Carroll (1962); page 27.
About Queen Victoria

Paul Karl Feyerabend photo
Austin Grossman photo
Richard Rorty photo
Freeman Dyson photo
Roger Scruton photo
Marcus Aurelius photo
George Washington Carver photo
George Washington Plunkitt photo
Daniel McCallum photo
Chittaranjan Das photo
Wolfram von Eschenbach photo

“You must never lose your sense of shame. If one is past all shame what is one fit for? One lives like a bird in moult, shedding good qualities like plumes all pointing down to Hell.”

Ir sult niemer iuch verschemn.
verschamter lîp, waz touc der mêr?
der wont in der mûze rêr,
dâ im werdekeit entrîset.
Bk. 3, st. 170, line 16; p. 95.
Parzival

John Ireland (bishop) photo
William Cowper photo

“Visits are insatiable devourers of time, and fit only for those who, if they did not that, would do nothing.”

William Cowper (1731–1800) (1731–1800) English poet and hymnodist

Letter to the Rev. John Johnson, (29 September1793).

Rob Pike photo
Anthony Burgess photo

“…of course, keep-fit people are no good in bed…”

Anthony Burgess (1917–1993) English writer

Fiction, The Right to an Answer (1960)

Jane Roberts photo
Katherine Heigl photo
Thomas Kuhn photo
George Henry Lewes photo
Thomas Hughes photo
Tom Rath photo

“Instead of celebrating what makes each child unique, most parents push their children to "fit in" so that they don't "stick out."”

Tom Rath (1975) American author

Tom Rath & Donald O. Clifton (2004) How Full Is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work and Life. p. 36

Béla H. Bánáthy photo

“Science focuses on the study of the natural world. It seeks to describe what exists. Focusing on problem finding, it studies and describes problems in its various domains. The humanities focus on understanding and discussing the human experience. In design, we focus on finding solutions and creating things and systems of value that do not yet exist.
The methods of science include controlled experiments, classification, pattern recognition, analysis, and deduction. In the humanities we apply analogy, metaphor, criticism, and (e)valuation. In design we devise alternatives, form patterns, synthesize, use conjecture, and model solutions. \
Science values objectivity, rationality, and neutrality. It has concern for the truth. The humanities value subjectivity, imagination, and commitment. They have a concern for justice. Design values practicality, ingenuity, creativity, and empathy. It has concerns for goodness of fit and for the impact of design on future generations.”

Béla H. Bánáthy (1919–2003) Hungarian linguist and systems scientist

Source: Designing Social Systems in a Changing World (1996), p. 34-35, as cited in Alexander Laszlo and Stanley Krippner (1992) " Systems Theories: Their Origins, Foundations, and Development http://archive.syntonyquest.org/elcTree/resourcesPDFs/SystemsTheory.pdf" In: J.S. Jordan (Ed.), Systems Theories and A Priori Aspects of Perception. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, 1998. Ch. 3, pp. 47-74.

Clement Attlee photo
Marguerite Yourcenar photo

“Our civil laws will never be supple enough to fit the immense and changing variety of facts. Laws change more slowly than custom, and though dangerous when they fall behind the times are more dangerous still when they presume to anticipate custom.”

Nos lois civiles ne seront jamais assez souples pour s'adapter à l'immense et fluide variété des faits. Elles changent moins vite que les moeurs; dangereuses quand elles retardent sur celles-ci, elles le sont davantage quand elles se mêlent de les précéder.
Source: Memoirs of Hadrian (1951), p. 113

Madeleine Stowe photo
Thomas Carlyle photo

“The Working Man as yet sought only to know his craft; and educated himself sufficiently by ploughing and hammering, under the conditions given, and in fit relation to the persons given: a course of education, then as now and ever, really opulent in manful culture and instruction to him; teaching him many solid virtues, and most indubitably useful knowledges; developing in him valuable faculties not a few both to do and to endure,—among which the faculty of elaborate grammatical utterance, seeing he had so little of extraordinary to utter, or to learn from spoken or written utterances, was not bargained for; the grammar of Nature, which he learned from his mother, being still amply sufficient for him. This was, as it still is, the grand education of the Working Man. As for the Priest, though his trade was clearly of a reading and speaking nature, he knew also in those veracious times that grammar, if needful, was by no means the one thing needful, or the chief thing. By far the chief thing needful, and indeed the one thing then as now, was, That there should be in him the feeling and the practice of reverence to God and to men; that in his life's core there should dwell, spoken or silent, a ray of pious wisdom fit for illuminating dark human destinies;—not so much that he should possess the art of speech, as that he should have something to speak!”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

1850s, Latter-Day Pamphlets (1850), Stump Orator (May 1, 1850)

Poul Anderson photo
Francis Bacon photo
Howard Stern photo