Richard Simmons Quotes

When I talk to kids who are overweight, I see my face on their bodies.

If your oxygen mask drops down, it's time to take a breather!

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.

When I lost my weight, I went and bought about 15 different types of underwear to see what would look good on my new body. It's exciting!

My nickname is Dickie Jukebox.

I have loved deeply. I have lost intensely. I will never love again. I get that love by people who care for me.

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'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.

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.

People spend thousands in therapy digging and digging in the past. When you dig and dig, you find relics. Try to forgive yourself and get back on that ride.

I just strive to do better. Every time I meet somebody, I ask myself, "How can I help this person?"

People need the court jester, so I keep that smile on and keep going out there to do what I do.

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.

When I go to bed at night, I ask God to give me another day; I ask him to keep me strong and make me a good teacher and to keep spreading this right word.

I could be hit by a Sara Lee truck tomorrow. Which is not a bad way of going: 'Richard Simmons Found in a Freeway in Pound Cake and Fudge, With a Smile on His Face.' Let's face it. We don't know anything.

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

Take a moment every day to find peace. Pull over to the side of the road, turn off the radio, and find peace.

The real pride, the real present, is your health and your longevity. My whole career, I have never done anything where competition was involved with weight loss.

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.

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.

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

I've always practiced this: Love yourself. Move your body. Watch your portions.

I get tired of negativity in our country. I get tired of people who only want to know dirt. I get tired of people who don't believe in themselves.

When we're binging, we do not think about death. We just think about how good it tastes.

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

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.

Count your blessings. You are one of a kind. There's no one in the world like you. You are amazing.

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

I do not want any child in America to have my childhood because it was taken away from me because I just wasn't good enough; well I am good enough now.

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.

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

All of a sudden, I'm thinking that if I keep eating the way I'm eating, I'm not going to live long and I'm going to die. Having those thoughts as a young person can be very haunting.

I've been going to shopping malls since I was on General Hospital.

Every morning when I get up, I ask God what he wants me to do, ask him to lead me to the right people to help them.

Comedy, not screaming at someone, can make someone lift their legs higher. There is a way to do a push-up and a sit-up, and it doesn't have to be so complicated. Everyone is putting a difficult twist to it and making you do way too much.

Miley Cyrus, like all of us, needs to be loved. We all come from complicated parents ... I understand her, and I love her, and I think things will be different with her. But you know, in the music business, sometimes you have to shock a little.

Puberty for me was graduating from Thousand Island salad dressing to Caesar salads. It was like going from hot dogs and hamburgers to beef stroganoff, or from ice cream in a cone to creme brulee.

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.

Well mine is not gimmicky - it is the 6 food groups that God made, and exercising every day. Trying to think positively.

Every day after school, for three hours a day, I would sell those pralines on the street corner. I was just eight years old. I'd bring the money home to my parents and say, "This is just the beginning."

When I go to bed, I ask God to give me one more day tomorrow. When I get it, I'm excited and grateful.

I started my own class for people like me who can't find any place else to go.

Everyone's under pressure and you just have to learn how to deal with it. And I deal with it through prayer and staying busy.

How do you get motivated? By knowing your worth. Americans do not know how worthy they are. You deserve to be healthy, but a lot of times, people have, as childs been told - as a children been told that they're no good, that they're never going to be anything else.

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

People treat me like family, 'cause I've always treated them like family.

I'm a real paradox. Because I'm a very serious person, and I take my work very seriously. But I wrap it up in a court jester and a clown and make people laugh and make them feel good about themselves.

I have been up to my head just with calling people, I call about 50 to 100 people a day.

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].

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

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.

I show them the funny part, the silly part, the laughing part, the crazy part and then the really deep, deep part where I'm talking from my heart to these people. Because I've been through everything they've been through.

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

We're all in trouble, and we all need to sort of pick up the pieces and start to exercise more and really be careful with the food.

I'm such a huge fan, and I've done classes of all Lady Gaga music. And she's just someone who evokes freedom and love for her fans and passion in what she does. Lady Gaga, I'll take you out for a salad anytime.

You shouldn't make fun of people who have issues.

I used to think that if someone gained their weight back, it was my fault, but all I can do is be God's motivator and try to instill the motivation in others so they do it themselves.

You are one of a kind and unique. Never forget that.

I have rules about eating, exercising and rules about staying positive. And these rules are sacred to me.

After all the throwing up, I would starve myself. Which meant eating lettuce and water for two and a half months. I almost lost my life.

Even though my work is whimsical. I have a very serious job. I cry more than I laugh.

One day I may be meeting you and hearing how you've changed your life by saying, 'Farewell to Fat'.

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

I don't know about you, but every time some joker points me out as I walk through an airport wearing extra-small Dolfin shorts, a tank top and leg warmers, I get a little upset.

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.

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.

I'm not into any show that makes people compete when they lose weight.

Work hard, take care of yourself, and you'll be just fine.

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

Everyone has a story that makes me stronger. I know that the work I do is important and I enjoy it, but it is nice to hear the feedback of what we do to inspire others.

I was always into staying busy, into my goals, into making notes and planning. I'm not one who truly lives in the past.

I give people permission to be kids again.

Right now many schools have no recess. Most schools have no PE.

It's not nice to make fun of people with issues.

People have been frying foods since Jesus was on this planet, and there is always going to be greasy, fried, salty, sugary food. It is up to the individual to walk in and say, 'I don't want those fries today.'

I get an abundance of e-mail every day, some say 'dear Richard, can you call my husband, he weighs 400 pounds ... ' or 'my 14-year-old is 200 pounds ... ' or 'I just got divorced, no one wants me, I am 500 pounds.' So I pick up the phone and I call people.

Some people like to look at pictures of themselves before they lost weight. I don't particularly care for that. Whenever I was overweight, it was a very sad time in my life.

My father offered me a dollar for every pound I would lose as a kid. It didn't work. And it doesn't really work in the long run. Who are you competing against? It's you. You need to be doing this for you and only you.

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

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.

Most workouts are way too aggressive. Thousands of lunges wear out the body.

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

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

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.

No tricks, gimmicks, special pills, special potions, special equipment. All it takes is desire and will.

In high school, I could get beaten up all the time, or I could be something better. I became the court jester.

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

But if you pick up every other magazine, it is the peanut butter diet, or the cabbage soup diet, and then you go to the radio and you hear that you can drink some solution and you will lose weight overnight. It just does not work that way!

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!

Number one, like yourself. Number two, you have to eat healthy. And number three, you've got to squeeze your buns. That's my formula.

When you're feeling down, sad, lonely, negative, you don't want to take care of yourself - and the weight problem and the diabetic problem and the heart attack and stroke problems and high cholesterol set in.

I'll tell you who makes me laugh, in a good way, and I'd love to have a date with her: if I could just have a salad with Lady Gaga? This would be my - I would almost probably faint.

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

My parents always told me to be myself. I was always funny and silly as a kid. And I would always make them laugh. And they always told me to dream big and follow those dreams.