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.

Always have one possibility in mind and that is to go to the top, to be the best. Everything else should just be a means to that end.

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.

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

I'd always wanted to tell people that when I work on my body I'm thinking about classical sculpture, so I jumped at the chance to show off body building as an art form.

A girl can talk about my nose, my teeth or my accent - anything that gets a conversation going is fine with me. It is weird, though, the way women respond to my body. Maybe 50 percent respond positively right away, while another 25 or 30 percent need a while to adjust to my size and to realize that ordinarily my muscles are soft, just like anyone's, only bigger.

I don't criticize myself; I criticize my body.