Fit

“ Thousands of men are beginning to realize what all this means. My mail for the last six months has been full of the inquiry. Men of forty are rapidly awakening and are eager to devote these few hours to the task of keeping fit, and so increasing their efficiency. ”

“ The only man who behaved sensibly was my tailor: he took my measure anew every time he saw me, whilst all the rest went on with their old measurements and expected them to fit me. ”

“ But they forget that, if it does not accord with their general style of living—if it is out of harmony with other things, it will so strike every body; and this want of fitness will prevent its looking well on them.
Let a true sense of propriety of the fitness of things regulate all your habits of living and dressing, and it will produce such a beautiful harmony and consistency of character, as to throw a charm around you that all may feel, though few may comprehend. ”

“ The beauty of every thing is fitness. Is the half-fine, unlady-like, yet lady-like creature, who answers to your dressing-room bell, half so respectable as the old-fashioned, plainly dressed, careful, homely maiden of your young days? ”

“ We believe that it will be found that fitness and beauty, so far from requiring any sacrifice for combination, are found each in the highest degree where both are most fully obtained—that the fittest, most comfortable dress is that which is most graceful or becoming. ”

“ The anthropologist, the physiologist, and the sociologist are all concerned to explain why the clothing worn to-day is often so unsuited to bodily needs as well as to the demands of beauty and fitness. ”

“ Because, wherever I have looked, I see that all things are perpetually referred to an eternal standard of fitness, and that right triumphs over wrong, truth over falsehood, beauty over ugliness. Fitness is the general expression! Judged by this standard art and honour have little value. ”

“ THE various writers of the books in the series have been chosen for their special fitness. Such fitness includes, in the first place, mastery of the particular subject: in the second place, ability to interpret knowledge to others. ”

“ There is often a remarkable fitness—may we call it a “pre-established harmony”?—between men and the circumstances of their age, and this has led to the opinion that it is by the events themselves the agents are developed ”

“ But to speak more closely of the matter in hand, let me name some of the considerations which must enter into the choice of a life-work. I can only speak in the most general way, addressing as I do young men of varying abilities and temperaments. If one should discuss the value or attractiveness of any particular vocation, the personal element and the question of individual fitness would instantly come in. ”

“ Instead of these being incompatible with beauty, they are directly accessory to it. "Elegance of form in the human figure," says Emerson, "marks some excellence of structure"; and again, "Any real increase of fitness to its end, in any fabric or organism, is an increase of beauty." ”

“ Make it fittest to be best and the best will win—not because it is the best, but because it is the fittest: had the worst been the fittest it would have won. In society to-day both forms of the process may be observed. ”

“ The adult human figure and head, offers, in spite of many fallings off in individuals and even deformities, the best, the most varied illustration of the great law of the relations of parts—the key of the mystery of beauty and fitness. ”

“ Her Royal Highness, like all cultivated minds, looks for fitness in her ornaments and tastes. What fitness is there, ma chere, in converting an article of real use, and which should not be paraded to one's associates, into an article of senseless luxury. ”

“ What may be meant by this idea of 'fitness'—which meets us in the famous phrase that the 'survival of the fittest' in the struggle for life is the goal of evolution—is a question which brings us at once to the consideration of the ethical significance of the theory. ”

“ But though ugliness be the opposite to beauty, it is not the opposite to proportion and fitness. For it is possible that a thing may be very ugly with any proportions, and with a perfect fitness to any uses. ”

“ It is easy enough to determine that a delicate, small-boned, slender person is not the best type to employ for digging coal, loading freight cars, or other arduous manual labour. There are, of course, many classes of occupations the fitness or unfitness for which of a particular individual must be determined in the first place by that individual’s physical characteristics. ”

“ Whether the selections are made by nature or by man, they are not determined by the physical facts of size, strength, speed, and the like, more than by cunning, courage, sagacity, skill, industry, devotion, ferocity, tractability, and other mental properties. The fittest survive, and the fittest may be the most timid or analytic as well as the most powerful. ”

“ The hand is defined as "the organ of apprehension." How perfectly the definition fits my case in both senses of the word "apprehend"! With my hand I seize [34] and hold all that I find in the three worlds—physical, intellectual, and spiritual. ”

“ Lower down in the social scale we find the same kind of misfit between nature and position as a very frequent occurrence—pinching shoes, productive of innumerable corns and tender places, being many where the feet represent the temperament and the shoes are the profession. ”

“ The woman's body normally and healthfully developed must be the standard of perfection, the proportion thereof preserved and the normal lines followed, and once fitted correctly should be fitted in the same way except for such changes as the changes in her physical development make advisable. ”

“ There is an aptness, a propriety, a fitness in these things which one can understand perhaps better than explain." ”

“ If then both or either of these motives change such a fellow, in about six months’ time, to such a degree, as that he is not to be known again, how much stronger should both these motives be with you, to acquire, in the utmost perfection, the whole exercise of the people of fashion, with whom you are to live all your life? Ambition should make you resolve to be at least their equal in that exercise, as well as the fear of punishment; which most inevitably will attend the want of it. By that exercise, I mean the air, the manners, the graces, and the style of people of fashion. ”

“ We hear two men discourse—the one with elegance, precision, style, the other with hesitation, blundering, rudeness. We say, how accomplished the one, how uncouth the other! In all these cases, muscular force has played its equal part with mental aptitude, or inaptitude. ”

“ We, on the other hand, have studied Nature—taken the human frame as our standard, and in all our labours have attempted to perfect that accord­ing to our ideal of its particular type of beauty: hence, instead of displaying fashion we display the human figure, and by giving freedom to every organ and support where it is needed, are enabled to impart all the advantages which can result from the addition of another muscular envelope to the figure. ”

“ Strong Quality is exhibited by an organization harmoniously constructed, full size, compact and firm. The limbs, trunk and head are generally well formed, the muscles firm, the walk steady, the carriage erect, and the movements generally graceful, but all indicating power. The features of the face are strongly marked and prominent, the lines well marked and the entire structure is definite and established. A hair from the head of such an individual will be harder to break than another from an organization of different quality. ”

“ In a former chapter we spoke of the dress and fashion in reference to health, and must here offer a few further observations in reference to taste, or the adaptation of dress to the individual temperament or style of beauty.
By temperament is always meant the peculiar constitution of the individual, such as the develop­ment of the body, whether it be slight, meagre, plump, or fat; the colour and structure of the skin, whether it be fair or dark, coarse or fine; the colour and quality of the hair; the colour of the eyes ”

“ One or other of these points we may occasionally waive in consideration of other special claims; but if anybody asks in the abstract whether we prefer a stunted physique to well-grown limbs and muscles; a flat-chested woman to one with a finely-proportioned bust—unhealthy and sallow skin to a clear complexion; a sour-looking, mean, or brutal face to a bright, joyous, open, and honest countenance; silly or idiotic features to an expression full of liveliness and intelligence—there can be but one answer possible. ”

“ From some professor, doubtless, he had caught the idea that strength was as much of the quality as the quantity of the muscle, while superiority in performance required a certain mind as well as strength. ”

“ During the pause which followed I found myself thinking, that weight for weight, inches for inches, brains for brains, I knew no man who had made a better use of life than our Major. Not over clever, certainly not handsome, handicapped heavily by having to start at scratch in worldly matters, he had a distinct personality of his own, which influenced every society he entered. ”

“ You have, next, a predominance of the vital temperament, which gives great warmth and ardor to your mind, and enables you to enjoy physical comfort and the luxuries of life in a high degree. Your muscular system is rather defective; there not being enough to furnish real strength and stamina of constitution. Although you may live to be aged, you will not be able to put forth such vigorous efforts as you could do, were the motive or muscular temperament developed in a higher degree. ”

“ But when I came to the conclusion that I was worth more than clothes, that my health was of more importance than a crease in my trousers, I found I was taking hold of a principle which, while it might at times seem to be rough on my clothing, would have a decidedly beneficial influence on myself. ”

“ Where the motive organs, the muscles and bones, predominate, the physical powers will be most prominent. Where the vital organs, indicated by a heavy-set body and a full chest, predominate, the manifestations of life will be most prominent. Where the nervous system predominates, the mental powers will be most prominent.
Motive temperament.—The motive temperament is indicated by bones broad and large; muscles slim, firm and tough; the individual is tall, angular, brow prominent, cheek-bones high, shoulders broad, chest full, eyes and hair usually dark. ”

“ And through the inevitable reaction of environment upon the man, the central point in his valuation of men and women tended to shift from the fundamentals, mind and character, to the surface qualities—dress and style and manners and refinement, and even dress. ”

“ But whichever view we take, it is obvious that they are centres in some degree, of intelligent force or vitality, centres which, though in their essence rare and tenuous as thought or feeling, succeed in clothing themselves with a certain grade of corporeality by the use of the materials at hand, and in so coming into visible manifestation. ”

“ With the mental temperament well developed, a strong mind will be manifested; with the vital and motive temperaments, strong physical and muscular functions. The relative absence of this quality will be marked by corresponding weakness, and although we may have a pronounced mental temperament, the individual will exhibit but little mental strength, and with a pronounced motive temperament he will be incapable of strong muscular action. ”

“ We refer here to the wide-spread use of trait analyses, both in business and in education, by which a man is estimated on the basis of his tendencies, capacities, and powers. His body is measured for its strength and resiliency, and where defects are discovered, a regimen leading to the re-education of his physique is prescribed. ”

“ Among those who pursue these sophisticated pleasures they reckon such as I mentioned before, who think themselves really the better for having fine clothes; in which they think they are doubly mistaken, both in the opinion they have of their clothes, and in that they have of themselves. For if you consider the use of clothes, why should a fine thread be thought better than a coarse one? ”

“ For mind and body acted and reacted on each other favourably, in so far as the conditions of her life were favourable. Such congenial intellectual pursuits as she was able to follow, by tranquillising her, helped the development of her physique, while the healthy condition of her body stimulated her to renewed intellectual effort—and it was all a pleasure to her. ”

“ Though we see in all the same evident desire to express strength yet we find considerable variety of physical type, far more so, in fact, than we find in the fifth century, which was dominated by a more or less definite ideal of physical beauty and proportion. ”

“ They are, in their physical development, beautiful to look upon—when they are cleaned up—perfectly formed, straight and muscular, with features strongly marked and with wide, clear eyes which inspire confidence. ”

“ I hope that I have proved conclusively that a splendid body is no longer a necessary means of enabling us to rise to the greatest heights either of ambition or of service. Why, therefore, should we so morbidly covet physical perfection? ”

“ Each variety of form, color, and character has its appropriate style; but our space here is too limited to allow us to do more than drop a hint toward what each requires, to produce the most harmonious and effective combination. ”

“ Now every one wishes to dress well, not simply that the clothing should be of good quality and the fashion unquestioned, but as they prefer pleasure to pain, so far they desire that the articles worn should be adapted to the body, and afford all the protection and comfort that is derived from well-made articles of clothing. ”

“ It is probable, too, that, though all kinds of power will continue to be attractive to them, the attractiveness of physical strength and the mental attributes that commonly go along with it will decline, while the attributes which conduce to social influence will become more attractive. ”