1. “No one will hit you harder than life itself. It doesn’t matter how hard you hit back. It’s about how much you can take, and keep fighting, how much you can suffer and keep moving forward. That’s how you win.”
2. “Consider the source. Don’t be a fool by listening to a fool.”
3. “That’s the hardest thing about doing sequels—you’ve lost the element of surprise.”
4. “I think there comes a time when you realize that you need God in your life—God’s Word, and the spiritual guidance that only He can give.”
5. “Don’t discuss your dreams. Pursue them!”
6. “Nothing is real if you don’t believe in who you are!”
7. “For every guy, there is an opportunity to be a lot better than he thought he could be. We can’t all be the star of the team, but we can be a star in our life. That’s where you set your goal.”
8. “Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are. It will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it.”
9. “I am not the richest, smartest, or most talented person in the world, but I succeed because I keep going and going and going.”
10. “Going in one more round when you don’t think you can—that’s what makes all the difference in your life.”
11. “Every champion was once a contender that refused to give up.”
12. “You are what you leave behind.”
13. “There’s a natural law of karma that vindictive people, who go out of their way to hurt others, will end up broke and alone.”
14. “You can depend so much on certain people, you can set your watch by them. And that’s love, even if it doesn’t seem very exciting.”
15. “When you’re scared, when you’re hanging on, when life is you, then you’re going to see what you’re really made of.”
16. “I’m not just painting for painting’s sake. I want to be truthful.”
17. “Dreams cost nothing. They are free. The hard part is just keeping them going.”
18. “If you express yourself too much, you’re considered weak.”
19. “When you find the right components in your life, the right people that gel with you, then you feel as though you’re invincible. It may be a fallacy, but you at least feel as though you can take all that life has to dish out.”
20. “The problem is, your ego sometimes tells you that you can do many things. But sometimes, it’s best to stay focused and be honest with yourself.”
21. “I really am a manifestation of my own fantasy.”
22. “You’ve got to show your soul. Otherwise, you’re just a piece of equipment.”
23. “Without love, loyalty, desires, passion, courage, dignities, faith, beliefs and all the other ingredients that go into making the human soul something so elevated that only God knows its limits, we are only shells bobbing aimlessly in a calm sea of mediocrity. And if you can figure that out, please write and explain it to me because you’re a better man than I am.”
24. “I’m the Hiroshima of love.”
25. “Age is a state of old mind. It gets to a point where if you get old enough, you forget how old you are, and that’s the best thing. And then you walk around kind of like in a fog.”
26. “You’re a disease, and I’m the cure.”
27. “I tend to think of action movies as exuberant morality plays in which good triumphs over evil.”
28. “Gangster is the truest friend I can ever ask for.”
29. “Clothing is the first step to building a character.”
30. “I’d rather do something I love badly than to feel bad about not doing something I love.”
31. “Racing’s very much like the world of acting. You have your front runners and you have guys that are there for the long race, and you have other guys that block for other people, that are called supporting and character actors. It’s all the same kind of situation.”
32. “Artists die twice. First creatively, then physically. The second one is the easiest.”
33. “Suddenly, I’ve got an overwhelming desire to surround myself with the aura of classical and Romantic art.”
34. “Nothing’s harder than writing. There’s no comparison. With directing, you can bounce a lot of ideas around. There’s tremendous support—you’ve got editors and sound mixers. With writing, it’s all you, and it’s just crippling when people tear up your pages.”
35. “I have tremendous respect for fighters and I always tell people that boxing in movies is one thing but when you get into the ring for real, even the worst heavyweight in the world is going to murder you. You’ve just got to appreciate the pain and the suffering and the glory and skill that goes into what they do. That’s why I love the sport so much.”
36. “I have tons of regrets, but I think that’s one of the reasons that push people to create things. Out of their angst, , comes the best from artists, painters, and writers.”
37. “The only happy artist is a dead artist, because only then you can’t change. After I die, I’ll probably come back as a paintbrush.”
38. “If you’re gonna be a failure, at least be one at something you enjoy.”
39. “You gotta do what you gotta do.”
40. “When you’re an actor, you’re a slave to other people’s visions.”
41. “I try to eliminate as much dialogue as possible, and I guess Rambo is my really best experiment with how to eliminate dialogue.”
42. “All good actors are unpredictable, and a little crazy in a good way, because they feel more secure playing other people than themselves.”
43. “‘Rocky’ represents the optimistic side of life, and ‘Rambo’ represents purgatory.”
44. “At the very end, the one person who Rambo should kill, he doesn’t kill. He lets it live. Because you can’t kill that kind of hypocritical bureaucracy. It goes on forever.”
45. “Movies are the work of a collective conscious. It takes 500-800 people on a movie to complete a vision.”
46. “Theater is like boxing—having the audience ringside. It’s instant gratification, or horrification.”
47. “Making a movie is the same as an orchestra; it’s moving all the different instruments and the sounds, the kinetic and the auditory and the visual all together. I’m probably the trombone.”
48. “I don’t fall into the physical manifestation of a man of letters. So I guess people assume the scripts are delivered to me under the door.”
49. “I made some truly awful movies. ‘Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot’ was the worst. If you ever want someone to confess to murder just make him or her sit through that film. They will confess to anything after 15 minutes.”
50. “I take as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up and get going, rather than retreat.”
51. “I have great expectations for the future, because the past was highly overrated.”
52. “Every time I’ve failed, people had me out for the count, but I always come back.”
53. “Plan B. You’ve always got to have a Plan B.”
54. “I think kids growing up, if they were picked on and feeling inferior at 12, they’re going to feel that way at 72. You just deal with it better. I’m serious.”
55. “The more I go to church, and the more I turn myself over to the process of believing in Jesus and listening to His Word and having Him guide my hand, I feel as though the pressure is off me now.”
56. “I think that gravity sets into everything, including careers, but pendulums do swing and mountains do become valleys after a while if you keep on walking.”
57. “If you look back at life, I bet you will regret about 80% of your actions. But life consists of all mistakes.”
58. “I have a fear of heights that borders on mania.”
59. “Most action is based on redemption and revenge, and that’s a formula. Moby Dick was a formula. It’s how you get to the conclusion that makes it interesting.”
60. “Now if you , then go out and get what you’re worth.”
61. “I realized, the older I get, the more difficult life becomes. It’s not easier, it’s more difficult.”
62. “I was an insecure kid. Once I saw ‘Hercules’ with Steve Reeves, it completely changed my life. If I had never gone to that film, I wouldn’t be here today.”
63. “You gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you! You’re better than that!”
64. “Like I said, I’ve got too much respect for women to marry them, but that doesn’t mean you can’t support them emotionally and financially.”
65. “I’m not a genetically superior person. I built my body.”
66. “To know that the odds are so high that only through the perishing of your life will the minions survive, that’s love. That’s heroism.”
67. “I’m not handsome in the classical sense. The eyes droop, the mouth is crooked, the teeth aren’t straight, the voice sounds like a Mafioso pallbearer, but somehow it all works.”
68. “Love is absolute loyalty. People fade, looks fade, but never fades.”
69. “I think everyone has a certain kind of formula in their life. When you deviate from that formula, you’re going to fail big or you’re gonna win big.”
70. “Remember, the mind is your best muscle. Big arms can move rocks, but big words can move mountains. Ride the brain train for success.”
71. “Your spiritual sense will make you either a winner or a loser.”
72. “Success is usually the culmination of controlling failure.”
73 “I keep trying to tell people. I said, at 40, 45, you’re at that crossroads. You really are there. And it’s not like you can have gain without pain, but this is it.”
74. “It would be great to be able to pass on to someone all of the successes, the failures, and the knowledge that one has had.”
75. “The way to be successful in Hollywood is to be as obnoxious as the next guy.”
76. “If you’re willing to take the humiliation of sticking your head above the crowd, maybe it’s, you know, the pleasure will be worth the pain.”
77. “If it’s not broken, break it. That’s how new discoveries are made. That’s why everything that changes life is called a breakthrough.”
78. “All young men want to prove themselves.”
79. “You have to grab life by the throat and squeeze before it grabs you by your neck and breaks it. Own your destiny.”
80. “Don’t be gullible, use life before it uses you. Understand there are no free lunches, and for every action you take, there’s a reaction.”
81. “Real love is when you become selfless and you are more concerned about your mate’s or children’s egos than your own. You’re now a giver instead of a taker.”
82. “I’m a big believer that, in life, we can’t succeed in everything. Most times, we lose.”
83. “When life hits you pretty hard, you can go into a dark corner.”
84. “If you don’t have a mountain, build one and then climb it. And after you climb it, build another one; otherwise you start to flatline in your life.”
85. “If bad decorating was a hanging offense, there’d be bodies hanging from every tree!”
86. “When you’re pushed, killing is as easy as breathing.”
87. “I thought I had reached a point in life where everything would be smooth. But it is not. It just gets more jagged and pitted and filled with turns that take you into the dark recesses of your mind. It never seems to get easy.”
88. “We do two things in life—qe race the clock and everything is a struggle. One way or not, it’s a metaphorical battle all of the time.”
89. “I just like stories about redemption—about getting a second chance at life. I think everyone in the world has they’ve made in their lives, and if they could just go back and correct it. But unfortunately, they don’t get a chance. Usually, it’s almost impossible.”
90. “A lot of guys don’t want to admit that they have a propensity for and for violence.”
91. “I’m more focused and have a greater sense of challenge, because I constantly feel the weight of time.”
92. “I’ve been involved in something which was chaotic and insane. All I can say now is that I am, and intend to stay, a single man.”
93. “Study people’s success stories hard. Study their failures even harder.”
94. “Voices are like fingerprints, from Cagney to Bogart. They never lost it. My voice is instrumental in categorizing me.”
95. “Testosterone, to me, is so important for a sense of well-being when you get older.”
96. “Movies are a whole different ball-game, now. It’s much more of a business—very scientific.”
97. “Some actors are brilliant character guys. They submerge.”
98, “Once in one’s life, for one mortal moment, one must make a grab for immortality; if not, one has not lived.”
99. “I wanted to show I had balls at age 60. Just because society says I’m old, doesn’t mean that I am. I’m pursuing happiness, even if it makes the people around me unhappy.”
100. “With a lot of comedians, one of their major attributes is that they look comedic, with a certain hangdog or manic expression. I look like the neighborhood bully. That doesn’t elicit laughter.”
101. “In the movies, I kill guys with an axe. In real life, I can’t control a nine-year-old girl.”
102. “I’m a patriot of the heart.”
103. “I know I’m incredibly unpredictable, and that’s the only thing I’m sure of.”
104. “I was an ambitious child and I tended to be scatterbrained. If I was at school and saw a bird outside the window I wanted to follow it. I was adventurous.”
105. “At the end of the day, ‘Rocky’ is a love story, and he could never have reached the final bell without Adrian.”
106. “I am a sensitive writer, actor, and director. Talking business disgusts me. If you want to talk business, call my disgusting personal manager.”
107. “People think retiring is fun. Well, maybe, but if you have a certain kind of fire inside, there is no end in sight.”
108. “Movies are a collective art. Art by proxy.”
109. “The only thing that I haven’t done is perform brain surgery on myself. I’ve been very, very lucky. I’ve spared Shakespeare undue stress by not doing that.”
110. “Time is truly the great enemy. It’s not the great healer, it’s the great stealer.”
111. “There is an age-old proverb that really does hold true in every area of life, in relations between nations and right down to the most subtle and sophisticated or must unstable and unsophisticated relations between lovers, and it is this—they took kindness for weakness.”
112. “I tell people diets don’t work. And I don’t care what they say. I have tried them all.”
113. “Action is always seen as the bottom rung of thespian endeavour, that’s just the way it is.”
114. “I’m perceived to be this solitary character, but nothing could be further from the truth.”
115. “The church is the gym of the soul.”
116. “I believe there’s an inner power that makes winners or losers, and the winners are the ones who really listen to the truth of their hearts.”
117. “The older I get, the more things I gotta leave behind.”
118. “Everybody has anger or regret in them one way or another. They all try different things to get it out. Some people go to psychiatrists. Some paint pictures. Some people talk it out.”
