In writing this book I have taken it as a commonplace that everyone—man, woman, and child—wants to be strong. Without strength—and by strength I mean health, vitality, and a general sense of physical well-being—life is but a gloomy business. Wealth, talent, ambition, the love and affection of friends, the pleasure derived from doing good to those about one, all these things may afford some consolation for being deprived of life’s chief blessing, but they can never make up for it. “But,” I am constantly being asked, “it is all very well for you to say this, and everyone of sense agrees with you; the point is, can we obtain this much-prized blessing?” In the vast majority of cases I can say unhesitatingly “Yes.” You can all be strong, all enjoy the heritage which was intended for you. - Summary by Eugen Sandow