Lewis Pugh Quotes

There’s nothing more chilling than swimming across open sea, where recently there used to be a solid glacier.

Going against the tide has never been difficult for me. It wasn’t even a conscious decision but the natural consequence of following my own instinct.

This wasn’t some kind of stunt. This was a symbolic swim, and I needed to be courageous. [...] Swimming in a wetsuit or drysuit just wouldn’t send the right signal.

I always feel nostalgic when I disembark (off a ship). It's not that I don't like land. I just love being at sea.

My mind has to be ready. My body also has to be ready. But even more important, my heart has to be ready. What I mean by that is for the swims I do, I must have a burning reason.

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.

A massive turquoise glacier feeds into Magdalenefjord, with chunks of ice as big as buildings breaking off and landing in the water to float away as icebergs. As I swam past them, with my head in the water, I heard a tantalising sound: a snap-crackle-pop, just like Rice Krispies in milk. It was the sound of tiny air bubbles being released from the ice – air that had been trapped there as much as 3,000 years ago. To swim through this sound, I thought, is to swim in history.

You don't know pain until you've had a stalactite in your cock.

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

Ultimately I wanted to be a pioneer swimmer, a distant descendant of Scott, Amundsen and Hillary, except that I would be an explorer of the water.

I’ve swum through some very cold and rough seas. I think that’s made me more determined than the average person.

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

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.

If you have a passion, follow it. It's the best barometer of what you will be good at. And choose a career that you enjoy – the extra money of a job you detest isn’t worth it.

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.