Richard Simmons Quotations | Page 2

I am kinder to my body. I don't try to prove anything to myself or others. I keep thinking about the need to go slower, gentler and maintain a sense of humor about it all.

When I was younger, I ate nothing but fried food. Everything was fried, from oysters to chicken to potatoes to vegetables. When you die in New Orleans, they deep fry you before they put you in the coffin. When we baptize children in New Orleans, we baptize them with a bordelaise sauce; we don't use water.

After I talk to so many people who are so unhappy about their weight and so depressed that they don't see any rainbows in their life, after I talk to about 30 of those, then I try to walk away and pet my dog, just do something that makes me happy.

My way is the sensitive, emotional way, because that's who I am. A day doesn't go by where I don't sit and cry, listening to the stories. I try to be the clown and court jester and make people laugh.

I have two rules for living in the world. I never say anything negative about anyone, because that won't get you anywhere. And two, if people confront me with certain questions, if they are not right, I will not answer them.

I have a one of a kind collection of dolls. My house is like a museum.

For my workout, I'm up at 4am. I say my prayers, count my blessings, and I work out right away. I just get it done. One day I'll tone - chest, back and shoulders - and the next day it's biceps and triceps. I also do 45 minutes of cardio every day. I do that before I even leave the house.

I just love what I do, and I'm a teacher more than anything.

I do consider myself a clown and a court jester, and I do love to make people laugh, whether they're laughing with me or at me.

I never say anything negative about anyone, because that won't get you anywhere.

I've never swayed from who I am. People have seen me on television, and they know what I'm like and they know what I do and they respect me for what I do. They know that I'm huggy and kissy.

My life is just a never-ending work in progress.

You can say anything you want to say about me. But don't you dare address overweight people with terrible names and ugly remarks. That is what upsets me.

I really created my career out of my own compulsion. Because I knew if I owned an exercise studio and I had to teach my classes there, I wasn't going to gain my weight back.

I took desperate measures to lose weight and did terrible things to myself. I went from diet pills to thirty laxatives a day to throwing up.

If you want to get the body you've always dreamed of, you have to earn it. You can't buy it, you can't rent it. You have to earn it. My formula has always been love yourself, move your body, watch your portions. And it sounds so easy, but it is not.

I'm the clown you take out of the box and wind up when you need a good laugh. And then, when you're done with me, I go back in my box.

Stop trying to find something in food that will make you feel better.

No one can make fun of overweight people in front of me!

Singing is good for the soul. It's the first thing I do every morning, after my blessings and my grace. I put music on and I sing.

You know, if your parents didn't have you, they'd be living in a nicer home, driving a Mercedes-Benz, with money in the bank and a boat. But noooooo. They had to have you! You've got to give back!

Everything I did with my life I did so that I could give my parents everything they didn't have because of me.

I was born with a crippled leg. I wore a corrective shoes since I was three years old and I still wear them.

There's a list of foods I can't have in the house. Peanut butter, can't have that in the house. Potato chips, can't have that in the house. Random little small mini candy bars, don't even think about it. I just have to watch everything. I have to stay between 1500 and 1600 calories a day. That's it.

I began reading cook books when I was six, cause my father had hundreds of cook books in the kitchen. I was obsessed with cooking and tasting different recipes. I got lost in being a compulsive eater. It brought me much happiness. Sadness too, sure. But I have to say, and compulsive eaters will agree with me, for that few seconds that you're eating, food tastes just great.

The real pride, the real present, is your health and your longevity.

If anyone's depressed for any reason, whether a relationship has fallen apart or they're having money problems, wearing feathered wings and a tutu takes you into a whole other world. A whole new woooooorld, a world of bright and shining stars!

If I don't take care of myself, if I don't feel good about myself, how can I help others?

My nickname is Dickie Jukebox.

I start phone calls at 4 A.M. to cheer people up. The housebound, people in the hospital. People who, after decades, still can't get over what happened 10 or 15 years ago.

Being successful is something that's sometimes hard to deal with.

If people confront me with certain questions, if they are not right, I will not answer them.

Back in the 70s and 80s, women felt the discrimination of being overweight. And now 35% of the letters I receive are from men.

I just want people to get off the back burner of their life and start to take better care of themselves and their children.

I don't have a lot to offer one person. I have a lot to offer to a lot of people.

I'm like a stuffed toy. You've never met me, but if you did, you'd just want to take me home and put me in your child's room.

I give people permission to be kids again.

I might as well be gay. And not just because I love rhinestones and Barbara Streisand. But because Im a sensitive person who is supportive of gay people the same way Im sensitive to grossly obese people and ugly people.

Its an eerie thing. My childhood is being washed away.

I never sold any of those "lose 10 pounds every week" scams. I've not changed my tune in all these years. I've seen everything pass by me, and I've been offered millions of dollars to put my name on products that were just lies. And I never did it.

I've been offered big money to promote machines. And high-protein diets, when that was really popular. There was always some new powder or diet plan that somebody wanted to put my name on.

Thats what we need going into the millennium. We need some positive, happy stuff.

There is no magic milkshake or workout machine. I think the real machine is your body. I do love treadmills, ellipticals, stationary bikes, free weights.

If you want to get the body you've always dreamed of, you have to earn it.

For my workout, I'm up at 4 A.M. I say my prayers, count my blessings, and I work out right away. I just get it done.

If I've got the right songs, I can weave a spell over everyone.

I think at the age of 50, everyone should write their own autobiography.

It's terrible, the way obese children and adults are treated in this country [USA]. And I'm not leaving this Earth until that is changed.

It's my life dream to be able to go and continue going to schools and teaching them about stretching and aerobics, cardio and strength training, because I want them to have a better life than I did. I don't want them to grow up to be me. I want them to be healthy. I want them not to go through eating disorders [like me].

There is no such thing as sleep deprivation, there is only caffeine deficiency.

I have never lied to the people. I have always told them to love themselves, to move their body, and to watch their portions. I never jumped on any other bandwagons for stupid diets or shots or pills or anything. I'm very worried about our young people. And we need to take care of them, or they're not going to live as long as their parents. And this is really something very important to me.

Everyone in Senate is a hurdle, but everyone in there has children. Everyone in there has grandchildren. No one wants to see our kids continue to gain weight, have high blood pressure high cholesterol, diabetes, and depression.

I get energy from meditation practice and from eating healthy fresh food, only one cup of espresso in the morning, and not drinking too much.

When the king gets depressed, he doesn't call for his wife. He doesn't call for the cook. He calls for the court jester.

If you don't love your mother you go straight to hell.

Sleep is critical to me ... at least eight or nine hours a night. I start to slow down my body and my mind at least 30 minutes before I get into bed. I don't watch any disturbing or invigorating TV at night.

What if you can't do what you once did, like run and jump up and down? You can walk, which is also good for your mind and mental attitude. You can do simpler exercises, like getting up and down from a chair without using your hands. You can stay fairly flexible. The most important thing is to not become sedentary.

I'm not going to be happy until every child in every school is physically active.

I sort of think of myself as part priest, part clown.

Therell always be some weird thing about eating four grapes before you go to bed, or drinking a special tea, or buying this little bean from El Salvador.

Energy is that amazing feeling that comes to life inside of you when you're happy and believe in yourself.

Most workouts are way too aggressive. Thousands of lunges wear out the body. It's not healthy for the one with the bad back, bad knees, diabetes. I'm never going to do that.

If I have to die, I want to combust in the middle of one of my classes.

That's what the majority of people in the world do, they walk among the ruins of their life. Things that didn't work out, relationships that went sour, jobs that disappeared. All they can think about is their ruins, and when you focus on that you can't build a new you.