Sylvester stallone quotes

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. The days are - like when I wrote this whole thing about, in the beginning of my first magazine. I said, "If you live to be 75 years old, that's 3,900 weekends. That's it."

I learned the real meaning of love. Love is absolute loyalty. People fade, looks fade, but loyalty never fades. 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.

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 have great expectations for the future, because the past was highly overrated.

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 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.

When life hits you pretty hard, you can go into a dark corner.

I'm not a genetically superior person. I built my body.

When you're scared, when you're hanging on, when life is hurting you, then you're going to see what you're really made of.

I tend to think of action movies as exuberant morality plays in which good triumphs over evil.

I have a lack of fear, whereas in the past the fear of failure was a powerful motivator. Anyway, I have great expectations for the future, but I just don't know if I'm the monarch of all I survey.

Children are the first thing I see in the morning and the last thing I see at night. It hurts me to be away from them for a few hours. It really does. I love them and they're girls, so they know how to push my buttons. But I've learned a lot and I have to thank my wife for that.

Artists die twice. First creatively. Then physically. The second one is the easiest.

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

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.

When I was in junior high school, the teachers voted me the student most likely to end up in the electric chair.

I watch a lot of news, and I watch musical shows because I think the music of the young people is really their news reports. They let you know how their country is going through their eyes, and about their experiences in the everyday shock of growing up.

Gangster is the truest friend I can ever ask for.

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.

Consider the source...Don't be a fool by listening to a fool.

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.

If bad decorating was a hanging offense, there'd be bodies hanging from every tree!

I have tons of regrets, but I think that's one of the reasons that push people to create things. Out of their angst, their regret, comes the best from artists, painters and writers.

Suddenly I've got an overwhelming desire to surround myself with the aura of classical and Romantic art.

I consider myself something of a raconteur. I have a rather audacious sense of humour.

Study people's success stories hard. Study their failures even harder.

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.

When you're an actor, you're a slave to other people's visions.

Life's not about how hard of a hit you can give... it's about how many you can take, and still keep moving forward.

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.

Theater is like boxing - having the audience ringside. It's instant gratification. Or horrification.

That's what Rocky is all about: pride, reputation, and not being another bum in the neighborhood.

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."

I realized, the older I get, the more difficult life becomes. It's not easier, it's more difficult.

Every champion was once a contender that refused to give up.

The church is the gym of the soul.

If you express yourself too much, you're considered weak.

I am not the richest, smartest or most talented person in the world, but I succeed because I keep going and going and going.

My favorite snack would have to be Fritos, no doubt about it. Fritos and mayonnaise. I know. Really healthy, isn't it?

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. To help someone, avoid all the fire, pain and anxiety would be wonderful.

Movies are a whole different ball-game, now. It's much more of a business - very scientific.

In Philadelphia, there's no delineation, they address me as Rocky, for real. They'll say things like: "Rocky, do you like this coat?" Or: "Rock, say hi to my sister." Or: "Yo Rock, I know a great restaurant." There's no Sylvester. Even the Mayor goes: "It's good to have Rocky here today."

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.

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.

I never started out to be an action actor. I was an ensemble actor. "Rocky" was an ensemble film. "F.I.S.T." was an ensemble. "Paradise Alley" was an ensemble.

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.

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.

Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But ya 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!

Playing polo is like trying to play golf during an earthquake.

Plan B. You've always got to have a Plan B.

When I tried to branch out into comedy, I didn't do very well at it, so I went back to doing what I do naturally well, or what the audience expects from me - action pictures.

I think that's become passe, but if you can surround yourself with a kind of monument to yourself and your family - a statement - and you can afford it, then that's a noble project.

You are what you leave behind.

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 think I'm a much better painter than an actor.

I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up and get going, rather than retreat.

Clothing is the first step to building a character.

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.

Don't discuss your dreams. Pursue them!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I'm more focused and have a greater sense of challenge, because I constantly feel the weight of time.

I'd rather do something I love badly than to feel bad about not doing something I love.

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.

Time is truly the great enemy. It's not the great healer, it's the great stealer.

Every generation has to find their own heroes.

I believe any success in life is made by going into an area with a blind, furious optimism.

If you make exercise your hobby instead of your enemy it becomes your friend; it's the one thing that will never let you down. It will always be there for you and it will always make you better than you were before. Remember: every time you go to the gym, every time you put the right supplement in your mouth, you're better than you were ten minutes ago. [...] The irony is most people know what to do, they just don't do what they know.

Dreams cost nothing. They are free. The hard part is just keeping them going.

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

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.

I'm a big believer that, in life, we can't succeed in everything. Most times, we lose.

Your spiritual sense will make you either a winner or a loser.

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.

I try to eliminate as much dialogue as possible, and I guess Rambo is my really best experiment with how to eliminate dialogue.

A lot of guys don't want to admit that they have a propensity for generosity and for violence.

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.

I just like stories about redemption about getting a second chance at life, I think everyone in the world has a few major mistakes they've made in there lives and if they could just go back and correct it... but, unfortunately they don't get a chance usually it's almost impossible.

I respect a woman too much to marry her.

The way to be successful in Hollywood is to be as obnoxious as the next guy.

Movies are the work of a collective conscious. It takes 500-800 people on a movie to complete a vision.

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.

All young men want to prove themselves.

If you're gonna be a failure, at least be one at something you enjoy.

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.

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.

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. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!

When you're pushed killing is as easy as breathing.

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.

I have a fear of heights that borders on mania.

Love is absolute loyalty. People fade, looks fade, but the loyalty never fades.

You're a disease. And I'm the cure.

Until America, door to door, takes every handgun, this is what you're gonna have. It's pathetic. It really is pathetic. It's sad. We're living in the Dark Ages over there.

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.

People think retiring is fun. Well, maybe, but if you have a certain kind of fire inside, there is no end in sight.

You have to grab life by the throat and squeeze before it grabs you by your neck and breaks it. Own your destiny.

Action is always seen as the bottom rung of thespian endeavour, that's just the way it is.

I know people get upset and go, 'They're going to take away the assault weapon'. But who needs an assault weapon? Like, really, unless you're carrying out an assault.

If you look back at life, I bet you will regret about 80% of your actions. But life consists of all mistakes.

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.

You've got to show your soul otherwise you're just a piece of equipment.

'Rocky' represents the optimistic side of life, and 'Rambo' represents purgatory.

Now if you know what you're worth. Then go out and get what you're worth.

The older I get the more things I gotta leave behind.

I really am a manifestation of my own fantasy.

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.

I'm the Hiroshima of love.

Every time I've failed, people had me out for the count, but I always come back.

Success is usually the culmination of controlling failure.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I'm perceived to be this solitary character, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Nothing is real if you don't believe in who you are!

I tell people diets don't work. And I don't care what they say. I have tried them all.

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 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.

Without the church it's like having a boat without the rudder. You think you can do it on your own and this may sound pedestrian or trite but I'll equate it to this: all my life I've been involved with exercise but no matter how much - and I know a great deal about the body - you need help. You need a trainer. You need to go to a gym and you need to have the expertise and the guidance of someone else. You cannot train yourself. I feel the same way about Christianity and what the church is. The church is the gym of the soul.

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.

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.

Going in one more round when you don't think you can - that's what makes all the difference in your life.