"I was the worst, most sickly kid of all – 30 pounds underweight. The girls used to beat me up. Actually I was a mean kid, early on because I had no self-esteem."

"If men are from Mars and women from Venus, what planet did Jack come from? Jack insists he is from planet earth."

"At age 70 the guy towed 70 boats carrying 70 people across the Long Beach harbor, with both arms and feet shackled."

"Jack from whom the term “Jumping jack” and description of a muscular person as “jacked” are both derived, is well known for his birthday feats."

"He also encouraged the disabled and elderly to exercise for health, a bizarre concept at the time."

"He was the first to have women work out with weights - a radical idea."

"At 21 years of age Jack developed the first models of exercise equipment, and these are standards in gyms today."

"At 21 years of age he opened North America’s first modern gym."

"But Bragg offered salvation to LaLanne: He could be "born again" and be the healthful and strong person he wanted to be — if he changed his ways."

"When he was 15, his distressed mother dragged him to a lecture on healthful living being given by nutritionist Paul Bragg."

"I hate to work out. [...] I’d rather take a beating. To leave a hot bed and a hot woman to go into a cold gym at five in the morning—that takes discipline. But I like the results. Results, results, results."

"Anything in life is possible and YOU make it happen!"

"I can’t die, [he most famously liked to say]. It would ruin my image."

"It would wreck my image."

"It tasted terrible, so I mixed it with prune juice and fruits. Nobody thought about it until then. We made the guy a millionaire."

"Mr. LaLanne said he performed his exercises until he experienced “muscle fatigue,” lifting weights until it was impossible for him to continue. It produced results and, as he put it, “the ego in me” made the effort worthwhile."

"Jesus, when he was on Earth, he was out there helping people, right? Why did he perform those miracles? To call attention to his profession. Why do you think I do these incredible feats? To call attention to my profession!"

"I care more than — you cannot believe how much I care! I want to help somebody!"

"The crusade is never off my mind — the exercise I do, the food I eat, the thought I think — all this and how I can help make my profession better-respected. To me, this one thing — physical culture and nutrition — is the salvation of America."

"Well it is. It is a religion with me. It's a way of life. A religion is a way of life, isn't it?"

"God gives us the power to act for ourselves, but let me tell you something. At five in the morning I have never heard this [he says mimicking a knock on the door]. Hello Jack, this is Jesus. I will work out today."

"There is no fountain for youth. What you put in your body is what you get out of it. You would not feed your dog a coffee and doughnut for breakfast followed by a cigarette you will kill the damn dog."

"My show was so personal, I made it feel like you and I were the only ones there. And I’d say: Boys and girls, come here. Uncle Jack wants to tell you something. You go get Mother or Daddy, Grandmother, Grandfather, whoever is in the house. You go get them, and you make sure they exercise with me."

"People thought I was a charlatan and a nut, [he remembered]. The doctors were against me — they said that working out with weights would give people heart attacks and they would lose their sex drive."

"When I first started out, I was considered a crackpot, [he said]. The doctors used to say, 'Don't go to that Jack LaLanne, you'll get hemorrhoids, you won't get an erection, you women will look like men, you athletes will get muscle-bound — this is what I had to go through."

"I was a whole new human being, he said of this transformation. I liked people, they liked me. It was like an exorcism, kicking the devil outta me!"

"That's what I wanted! I wanted to be an athlete, I wanted the girls to like me, and I wanted to be able to get good grades in school, and this man said I could do all that."