Lewis Pugh Quotes

Too little confidence, and you're unable to act; too much confidence, and you're unable to hear.

There is nothing more powerful than the made-up mind.

A thought came across my mind: if things go pear-shaped on this swim, how long will it take for my frozen body to sink the four and a half kilometers to the bottom of the ocean?

Thoughts alone won’t make extraordinary things happen. But nothing ever happens if you don’t visualise it first.

My father taught me to understand that not much was impossible, if you had a mind to go after it. What seems beyond you is only unreachable if that’s what you believe.

Don’t look for other people to validate your dreams. If it feels right, just go for it.

Now is the time for change. We cannot drill our way out of the energy crisis. The era of fossil fuels is over. We must invest in renewable energy. And we must not delay.

I’ve been swimming for 25 years, and I don’t think there is one swim that I have done where someone didn’t say beforehand, ‘I don’t think it’s possible’ or ‘You’ll never make it’. If someone tells you that you can’t achieve your dream, don’t waste good time arguing. Walk away and do it.

The English Channel is the perfect stretch of water to truly test the human mind.

My love for the water would always be tempered by respect for dangers that must never be underestimated.

I look for swims where I can carry a powerful message. No message, no swim. I don’t get wet now unless it’s for a reason.

Unless our children have been into nature, it is unlikely they will care about it when they grow up.

Nothing excited me more than opening up the atlas and seeing places and seas, imagining what they looked like and what kind of life the people had.

I don’t know of any sport where the goalposts can shift the way they do with endurance swimming.

I resolved to follow my dream. I wanted to push every boundary. I wanted to swim further than anyone else. I wanted to cross seas and round capes that no one had dreamed of swimming before. And I wanted to swim in waters that were so cold no one thought it was possible to survive in them. And though it promised to make me poor and would take away the security provided by a career in law, that didn’t worry me.