Extended excerpt  [Comment – likely made in jest – in a LIFE magazine profile of Armstrong and his family]:

“The special exhilaration of silent, powerless flight has remained one of his greatest pleasures. Neil never cared much for team sports. Among the astronauts, for whom physical fitness is almost a fetish, he is an anomaly. He neither jogs, does push-ups nor plays handball. “I believe,” he says mildly, “that every human being has a finite number of heartbeats available to him, and I don’t intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercise.” (p. 20, column 4)

Source note: The Armstrong interview was part of a feature profile of the lunar astronauts. The Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Mike Collins profiles begin on page 16D under the heading “Three Men Bound for the Moon.”

Source link: “Neil Armstrong refuses to ‘waste any heartbeats” (4 July 1969) LIFE magazine, online via Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=Lk8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20&lpg=PA20&dq=Among+the+astronauts,+for+whom+physical+fitness+is+almost+a+fetish,+he+is+an+anomaly

Extended excerpt  [From Armstrong’s written response to a letter from librarian Marguerite Hart. Hart had written a number of notable people and asked them to consider writing a letter to the children of Troy, Michigan about the value of their new public library. The quote cited here is the full third paragraph of the letter.]:

“Knowledge is fundamental to all human achievement and progress. It is both the key and the quest that advances mankind. The search for knowledge is what brought men to the moon; but it took knowledge already acquired to make it possible to get there.”

Source link: [Accessed June 2015] “A Library is Many Things” (13 April 1971) online via Letters of Note: http://www.lettersofnote.com/2011/05/library-is-many-things.html

Misquote note:

Extended excerpt [CDR = Commander, Neil A. Armstrong]:

CDR (Tranquility) – Armstrong: “I’m going to step off the LM now.”

CDR (Tranquility) – Armstrong: THAT’S ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN, ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND.

CDR (Tranquility) – Armstrong: “And the – the surface is fine and powdery. I can – I can pick it up loosely with my toe. It does adhere in fine layers like powdered charcoal to the sole and sides of my boots. I can only go in a small fraction of an inch, maybe an eighth of an inch, but I can see the footprints of my boots and the treads in the fine, sandy particles.

CC: “Neil, this is Houston. We’re copying.” 

Source link [Misquote]: “Armstrong Adds an ‘a’ to Historical Quotation” (31 July 1969) online via The New York Times, ‘TimesMachine’ archive [subscription service]: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1969/07/31/78387605.html?action=click&contentCollection=Archives&module=ArticleEndCTA&region=ArchiveBody&pgtype=article&pageNumber=20

Source link: [Accessed June 2015] Apollo 11 Mission Transcript (July 1969) NASA, Johnson Space Center: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/mission_trans/AS11_TEC.PDF

Extended excerpt: [Final paragraph of Armstrong’s response to a letter from librarian Marguerite Hart. Hart had written a number of notable people and asked them to consider writing a letter to the children of Troy, Michigan about the value of their new public library.]:

“How we use the knowledge we gain determines our progress on earth, in space or on the moon. Your library is a storehouse for mind and spirit. Use it well.”

Source link: [Accessed June 2015] “A Library is Many Things” (13 April 1971) online via Letters of Note: http://www.lettersofnote.com/2011/05/library-is-many-things.html