When I tried to play characters that strayed from who I am it ended in disaster. People didn't expect me in comedies or musicals.

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.

You cannot train yourself. I feel the same way about Christianity and about what the church is: The church is the gym of the soul.

For 'Rocky II,' I got a torn pectoral muscle, I got all beat up inside, I had to have an operation to splice things back together.

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.

I thought marriage was tough. Golf's like going over Niagara Falls in a barrel! It's a psychological game that gets into your blood.

Once I stopped trying to always do everything my way, and once I asked for God's help, things have truly gone a different direction.

I've kind of fashioned my life after a Slinky. Bend me in a million shapes, and eventually I'll spring back to what I originally was.

We do two things in life: We race the clock and everything is a struggle. One way or not, it's a metaphorical battle all of the time.

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.

Characters I've played, they used to impact my paintings, like 80 percent of the time, and especially when I was doing an action film.

There aren't a lot of opportunities for that rite of passage that makes you a man. War is one of them, and violent sports are another.

I've always boxed a certain way. But with Rocky, the character himself had to be kind of awkward. So I had to learn to fight that way.

The men in Vietnam weren't allowed to fight the war with any kind of concern to win by the government. It was like a war of attrition.

Remember the mind is your best muscle...BIG ARMS can move rocks, but BIG WORDS can move mountains... Ride the brain train for success.

All good actors are unpredictable, and a little crazy in a good way, because they feel more secure playing other people than themselves.

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.

When you are young, you often think that the world spins around you. You think you can do anything, can take the world on your shoulders.

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.

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.

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.

I'm always looking for a new challenge. There are a lot of mountains to climb out there. When I run out of mountains, I'll build a new one.

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.

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.

I could start a war in 30 seconds. But some countries spend 100 years trying to find peace. Just like good manners, peace has to be learned.

I am a sensitive writer, actor and director. Talking business disgusts me. If you want to talk business, call my disgusting personal manager.

The character of Rocky was built on the idea that he was chosen to do something. That's why the first image in Rocky is the picture of Christ.

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.

I think audiences have hit the wall with CGI and special effects. They have seen so many over-the-top events that they can't suspend disbelief.

Rocky would definitely run for councilman. Maybe mayor. But these people are actually most effective in the family unit. That's where they shine.

When boxers are in the ring, they're simple. It's when the fight is over, that's when the other fight, the real fight, begins. That's the problem.

I wish my daughters would box. I'm so worried about the guys coming up to them. I would love them to be able to smack a guy right off a bar stool.

If you look at people that have survived crashing in the mountains and lived up in the snow for 40 days - it's possible to do extraordinary feats.

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.

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.

I have two lovely sons and some good memories, but I've had a rather tumultuous personal life. It hasn't been dull; I've been the Hiroshima of love.

Back there I could fly a gunship, I could drive a tank, I was in charge of million dollar equipment, back here I can't even hold a job PARKING CARS!

The one thing in my films, I only kill people who need to be killed, or killers killing killers. And I believe that the violence is very justifiable.

When crossing someone's borders you have to be prepared to engage in a war that is far more brutal than if it were to take place on neutral territory.

I have all kinds of chest injuries; I tore my vein during 'Rocky II' and had 60 stitches. If you've seen 'Rocky Balboa,' you'll know how bad they look.

I think I came along at an opportune time. I don't know if that would happen anymore, because the whole way of doing business in Hollywood has changed.

Sometimes worst enemies like a Mohammed Ali and Joe Frazier that's what makes you fight so hard. Without them they never would have achieved greatness.

I wish I had thought of Velcro muscles myself. I didn't have to go to the gym for all those years, all the hours wedded to the iron game, as we call it.

People assume that 'The Expendables' is old school, but it's only old school because that's the way I know how to make an action film. It's pretty real.

I abused my body so much throughout my career that I am literally held together by glue. The stuff I took thickens the bones and reinforces the tendons.

Most action is based on redemption and revenge, and that's a formula. Moby Dick was formula. It's how you get to the conclusion that makes it interesting.

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.

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.

Training and working in Philadelphia is a very unusual situation because that city does believe that Rocky is real. No one calls me Sylvester, it's Rocky.

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.

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