Lewis Pugh

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

— Lewis Pugh

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.

— Lewis Pugh

They have [...] a split personality. One moment they’re your best mate, and next they are trying to drag you down to the bottom of the sea to drown you. [...] It’s just astonishing.

— Lewis Pugh

The essence of any great achievement is to believe in your purpose.

— Lewis Pugh

I knew now that I had to stand up and start speaking about protecting our environment. From that moment on, every swim should have the aim of inspiring people to protect and preserve the world’s oceans and all that live in them.

— Lewis Pugh

The most powerful form of self-belief comes from believing in something greater than you. Because when you’ve got purpose, everything becomes possible.

— Lewis Pugh

I’m not a rule-breaker by nature. But there are times when you need to untangle yourself from red tape. Because the truth is, if you wait for permission, some things will simply never happen.

— Lewis Pugh

When you have hope in the future, you have power in the present. And when you lose that hope, your dream goes with it.

— Lewis Pugh

Never plan for victory and defeat in your mind at the same time.

— Lewis Pugh

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.

— Lewis Pugh

When you are walking up a mountain to attempt something that nobody’s ever tried before, and you pass people bringing corpses down, it becomes very clear that if you get it wrong, the consequences could be fatal.

— Lewis Pugh

[...] it’s much easier to achieve big dreams than it is small ones. Big dreams require big passion. And when you’ve got passion it’s easier to inspire others to come along and help you.

— Lewis Pugh

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.

— Lewis Pugh

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

— Lewis Pugh

No matter how tough my day has been, when I dive into the sea, the world seems perfect.

— Lewis Pugh

There’s a fine line between bravery and stupidity, which should never be crossed.

— Lewis Pugh

I always tell young swimmers: 'Practice things until you can't get them wrong. Not until you get them right.' There's a big difference.

— Lewis Pugh

Law taught me how to argue passionately and rationally. That’s key to being a successful environmental campaigner. If you are too emotional you run the risk of turning off policy makers. And if you can’t present your arguments rationally, no one will listen to you.

— Lewis Pugh

When I can’t decide which path to take, I have a meeting with the 75-year-old me. That person usually knows what to do.

— Lewis Pugh

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.

— Lewis Pugh

I tolerate cold water. Anyone who says they love swimming in freezing water is either lying or has never done it.

— Lewis Pugh

I think it foolhardy to predict the absolute limits of human endurance.

— Lewis Pugh

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

— Lewis Pugh

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.

— Lewis Pugh

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

— Lewis Pugh

As a pioneer swimmer, you've got to be willing to fail and try again. The point isn’t to learn to fail, the point is to learn to bounce back.

— Lewis Pugh

There's a tyranny in perfection. Just do things to the very best of your ability. Then move on.

— Lewis Pugh

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.

— Lewis Pugh

Being the first to undertake a swim is exponentially harder than going second. You don’t know what will happen. The fear can be crippling. It’s much easier to go second. You know it’s possible. But the world is divided into pioneers and followers. You are one or the other. I prefer to be a pioneer.

— Lewis Pugh

The trick is to make fear your friend. Fear forces you to prepare more rigorously and see potential problems more quickly.

— Lewis Pugh

To do anything worthwhile, you will face periods of grinding doubt and fear.

— Lewis Pugh

You must not dither - swim like you're running through a minefield.

— Lewis Pugh

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

— Lewis Pugh

If we pass on an unsustainable environment to our children we have failed them.

— Lewis Pugh

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

— Lewis Pugh

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?

— Lewis Pugh

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

— Lewis Pugh

We made fracking a civil rights issue. Because that is what it is. We all have a right to a healthy environment and to clean water. And so do our children.

— Lewis Pugh

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

— Lewis Pugh

Everywhere water is under threat. It is our most precious resource. And there is no alternative to it.

— Lewis Pugh

The right to have our environment protected for the benefit of present and future generations is our most important human right.

— Lewis Pugh

Sometimes the moments that challenge us the most, define us.

— Lewis Pugh

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

— Lewis Pugh

These are areas of unparalleled natural beauty to be handed to our children undisturbed. We are merely custodians. You would not build a toll plaza and an administration block in the Grand Canyon or next to the Victoria Falls or within any other World Heritage Site.”

— Lewis Pugh

A healthy ocean is an ocean with sharks. Take away an apex predator and it’s like removing the lions from the Serengeti. It won’t be long before the gazelle, zebras and wildebeest have multiplied and eaten all the grass. And when the land is laid bare the grazers will starve to death. Predators are crucial for a healthy ecosystem – be it on land or in the water.

— Lewis Pugh

An estimated 100 million sharks are fished out of the world's oceans every year. Take a minute to mull over that figure. That's over a quarter of a million animals each day … If this number of humans were killed in a year, it would be called genocide. There is a name for what is happening in our oceans today: it is ecocide.

— Lewis Pugh

For us to find lasting peace between people, we must first make peace with nature.

— Lewis Pugh

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.

— Lewis Pugh

To succeed as a pioneer you need two things: ignorance and purpose. Ignorance of just how tough the path ahead will be. And a driving purpose, which keeps you going nonetheless.

— Lewis Pugh

Most Channel crossings are won or lost before the first stroke is even taken.

— Lewis Pugh

Never, ever did I think that there would be a debate in this arid country about which was more important – gas or water. We can survive without gas. We cannot live without water.

— Lewis Pugh

Look around the world. Wherever you damage the environment, you have conflict. We have had enough conflict in [South Africa] – now is the time for peace.

— Lewis Pugh

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.

— Lewis Pugh

The right to have our environment protected for the benefit of our generation and the benefit of future generations is our most crucial human right. I do not say that lightly - especially given South Africa’s past.

— Lewis Pugh

We cannot afford the luxury of cynicism or even pessimism in our reaction to climate change. The situation is too serious. We must tackle it head on – and immediately.

— Lewis Pugh

Four-point-two kilometres is a long way for a frozen body to sink.

— Lewis Pugh

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.

— Lewis Pugh

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.

— Lewis Pugh

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

— Lewis Pugh

My own feeling was that witnessing the explosion of an atomic bomb, and having to examine all the dead animals, had a profound effect on my father.

— Lewis Pugh

Always when we walked, it was clear to me how much he loved nature, wild flowers, animals in their natural habitat and the simple pleasures of a beautiful sunset. My love for the environment did not develop out of a vacuum.

— Lewis Pugh

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.

— Lewis Pugh

It took me over three years to get the beret and the most enriching part of the experience was getting to know men for whom you would have given your life on the battlefield. It is a big thing to say there are people who are not your family for whom you would give up your life. But that is how close we became.

— Lewis Pugh

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.

— Lewis Pugh

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.

— Lewis Pugh

I have been haunted by that swim through the whale graveyard and haven’t been able to get the image of the bones out of my head. Man hunted whales almost to the point of extinction, not seeming to care that we would lose one of the wonders of the sea world forever. It is the coldness of the water in Antarctica that preserves the bones and makes it look like they were left there yesterday but I like to think they are there as a reminder of man’s potential for folly.

— Lewis Pugh

...when you swim from England to France you’ve got to leave your doubt on the beach at Dover.

— Lewis Pugh

When people say to me, you must have a very strong mind to swim across the North Pole, or off Antarctica or on Mount Everest, I tell them that endurance swimming builds good mental strength.

— Lewis Pugh

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

— Lewis Pugh