Top 50 Joseph Pilates Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness.”

— Joseph Pilates

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2. “Change happens through movement and movement heals.”

— Joseph Pilates

Featured in: Wellness Quotes, Fitness Quotes, Moving Quotes, Health Quotes

3. “You are only as young as your spine is flexible.”

— Joseph Pilates

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4. “In 10 sessions you’ll feel the difference, in 20 you’ll see the difference, and in 30 you’ll have a new body.”

— Joseph Pilates

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5. “The Pilates Method teaches you to be in control of your body and not at its mercy.”

— Joseph Pilates

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6. “Every moment of our life can be the beginning of great things.”

— Joseph Pilates

7. “It’s the mind itself which shapes the body.”

— Joseph Pilates

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8. “Everyone is the architect of their own happiness.”

— Joseph Pilates

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9. “Above all, learn to breathe correctly.”

— Joseph Pilates

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10. “If your spine is inflexibly stiff at 30, you are old. IF it is completely flexible at 60, you are young.”

— Joseph Pilates

Featured in: Gym Motivation Quotes, Exercise Quotes

11. “Breathing is the first act of life and the last. Our very life depends on it. Since we cannot live without breathing it is tragically deplorable to contemplate the millions and millions who have never mastered the art of correct breathing.”

— Joseph Pilates

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12. “Contrology is complete coordination of body, mind, and spirit.”

— Joseph Pilates

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13. “Good posture can be successfully acquired only when the entire mechanism of the body is under perfect control.”

— Joseph Pilates

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14. “Before any real benefit can be derived from physical exercises, one must first learn how to breathe properly. Our very life depends on it.”

— Joseph Pilates

15. “Not only is health a normal condition, but it is our duty not only to attain it but to maintain it.”

— Joseph Pilates

16. “By all means never fail to get all the sunshine and fresh air you can.”

— Joseph Pilates

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17. “Never slouch as doing so compresses the lungs, overcrowds other vital organs, rounds the back, and throws you off balance.”

— Joseph Pilates

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18. “Physical fitness can neither be achieved by wishful thinking nor outright purchase.”

— Joseph Pilates

19. “Contrology develops the body uniformly, corrects wrong postures, restores physical vitality, invigorates the mind, and elevates the spirit.”

— Joseph Pilates

20. “The mind, when housed within a healthful body, possesses a glorious sense of power.”

— Joseph Pilates

21. “The man who uses intelligence with respect to his diet, his sleeping habits and who exercises properly, is beyond any question of doubt taking the very best preventive medicines provided so freely and abundantly by nature.”

— Joseph Pilates

22. “Patience and persistence are vital qualities in the ultimate successful accomplishment of any worthwhile endeavor.”

— Joseph Pilates

23. “Contrology is designed to give you suppleness, natural grace, and skill that will be unmistakably reflected in the way you walk, in the way you play, and in the way you work.”

— Joseph Pilates

24. “Civilization impairs physical fitness.”

— Joseph Pilates

Featured in: Quotes About Civilization

25. “Breathing is the first act of life, and the last.”

— Joseph Pilates

26. “Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness. In order to achieve happiness, it is imperative to gain mastery of your body. If at the age of 30 you are stiff and out of shape, you are old. If at 60 you are supple and strong then you are young.”

— Joseph Pilates

27. “You will feel better in ten sessions, look better in twenty sessions, and have a completely new body in thirty sessions.”

— Joseph Pilates

28. “Pilates is gaining the mastery of your mind over the complete control of your body.”

— Joseph Pilates

29. “A man is as young as his spinal column.”

— Joseph Pilates

30. “A few well-designed movements, properly performed in a balanced sequence, are worth hours of doing sloppy calisthenics or forced contortion.”

— Joseph Pilates

31. “When all your muscles are properly developed, you will, as a matter of course, perform your work with minimum effort and maximum pleasure.”

— Joseph Pilates

32. “Through the Pilates Method of Body Conditioning, this unique trinity of a balanced body, mind, and spirit can be attained. Self-confidence follows.”

— Joseph Pilates

33. “The acquirement and enjoyment of physical well-being, mental calm and spiritual peace are priceless to their possessors...”

— Joseph Pilates

34. “Because of poor posture, practically 95% of our population suffers from varying degrees of spinal curvature, not to mention more serious ailments. Good posture can be successfully acquired only when the entire mechanism of the body is under perfect control.”

— Joseph Pilates

35. “It is better to be tired from physical exertion than to be fatigued by the ‘poisons’ generated by nervousness while lying awake.”

— Joseph Pilates

36. “To achieve the highest accomplishments within the scope of our capabilities in all walks of life we must constantly strive to acquire strong, healthy bodies and develop our minds to the limits of our ability.”

— Joseph Pilates

37. “I must be right. Never an aspirin. Never injured a day in my life. The whole country, the whole world, should be doing my exercises. They’d be happier.”

— Joseph Pilates

38. “Contrology is not a fatiguing system of dull, boring, abhorred exercises repeated daily “ad-nausem”.”

— Joseph Pilates

39. “Concentrate on the correct movement each time you exercise, lest you do them improperly and thus lose all the vital benefits. Correctly executed and mastered to the point of subconscious reaction, these exercises will reflect grace and balance in your routine activities.”

— Joseph Pilates

40. “Lazy breathing converts the lungs, literally and figuratively speaking, into a cemetery for the deposition of diseased, dying and dead germs as well as supplying an ideal haven for the multiplication of other harmful germs.”

— Joseph Pilates

41. “Normal muscles should function naturally in much the same manner as do the muscles of animals.”

— Joseph Pilates

42. “Time and progress are synonymous terms – nothing can stop either. Truth will prevail and that is why I know that my teachings will reach the masses and finally be adopted as universal.”

— Joseph Pilates

43. “Moreover, such a body freed from nervous tension and over-fatigue is the ideal shelter provided by nature for housing a well-balanced mind that is always fully capable of successfully meeting all of the complex problems of modern living.”

— Joseph Pilates

44. “You must squeeze every atom of impure air from lungs until they are almost as free of air as a vacuum.”

— Joseph Pilates

45. “Man should bear in mind and ponder over the Greek admonition – Not Too Much, Not Too Little.”

— Joseph Pilates

46. “Man should develop his physical condition simultaneously with that of his mind.”

— Joseph Pilates

47. “As a heavy rainstorm freshens the water of a sluggish or stagnant stream and whips it into immediate action, so does the Pilates Methods purify the bloodstream.”

— Joseph Pilates

48. “By exercising your stomach muscles, you wring out the body, you don’t catch colds, you don’t get cancer, you don’t get hernias. Do animals get hernias? Do animals go on diets?”

— Joseph Pilates

49. “Ideally, our muscles should obey our will. Reasonably, our will should not be dominated by the reflex actions of our muscles.”

— Joseph Pilates

50. “With body, mind, and spirit functioning perfectly as a coordinated whole, what else could reasonably be expected other than an active, alert, disciplined person?”

— Joseph Pilates