"Once in one's life, for one mortal moment, one must make a grab for immortality; if not, one has not lived." "That's what Rocky is all about: pride, reputation, and not being another bum in the neighborhood." "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." [Explaining to 'The New York Times' on how he wrote the script for Rocky in three days]: "I'm astounded by people who take 18 years to write something. That's how long it took that guy [Gustave Flaubert] to write 'Madame Bovary.' And was that ever on the best-seller list? No. It was a lousy book and it made a lousy movie." (In 1976, after completing production on "Rocky II"): "But there'll never be a 'Rocky IV.' You gotta call a halt." "I'm not right wing, I'm not left wing. I love my country." "I think it's very dangerous waters. In that particular field you can't yell 'action' and 'cut' and 'take two' and 'take three'. I personally think actors should remain actors, but I know he's always had blind ambition for that, so maybe it'll work out for him." - On Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign for Governor of California in 2003 "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. It has to be stopped, and someone really has to go on the line, a certain dauntless political figure, and say, it's ending, it's over, all bets are off.' It's not two hundred years ago, we don't need this any more, and the rest of the world doesn't have it. Why should we?" [Following the murder of Phil Hartman in 1998] "I had no idea Ellen Barkin was in the restaurant. If she was coughing or dying, she was doing it politely. I would have been more than happy to reach down her throat or squeeze her hard. Sat there dumbfounded? Please! I would have rallied round - just to avoid paying the bill." "I'm five foot ten and weigh 177 pounds. I'm pleased with my body now." (1991) "People accept Rocky Balboa as authentic. I can't tell you how many people have come up to me and asked about my boxing career. It's like they really want to believe that Rocky exists. You know, I'm amazed by all of this. At one time I thought people would get over their fascination with the character and move on. Didn't happen. After thirty years, Rocky has taken hold to a degree I never could have imagined." "It's a huge shock. It just makes me realize how fragile life is." [Following John Ritter's death in 2003] "I'm not a genetically superior person. I built my body." "We're talking about doing another Rambo because I think it's time to combine action with politics." (2002) "I'll just go on playing Rambo and Rocky. Both are money-making machines that can't be switched off." "I'm a very physical person. People don't credit me with much of a brain, so why should I disillusion them?" "After I made Cop Land in which I played a timid, overweight cop, all of Hollywood turned their back. I'm surprised they even gave me this table. I'm like driftwood in here." (1999) "I know I cannot hold on to them forever, but I will as long as I can. I pity the first boy to knock on the door for a date. I'm gonna buy ten more Rambo outfits just to make sure they're too scared to put a foot wrong. They will probably all run a mile, which suits me just fine. I know I won't be able to help myself playing the worried dad. My girls were born with the flirt gene. It's very funny, but it also worries me about what a handful I will have in a few years time. I know it's stupid - I just don't want them to grow up. I love my family. I can't imagine life without them all in the house." "I really am a manifestation of my own fantasy." "All art, in this business, is a matter of compromise. It's not one man's vision unless he takes very weak actors." "I'd say between 3 pm and 8 pm I look great. After that it's all downhill. Don't photograph me in the morning or you're gonna get Walter Brennan. "No one likes to fail at anything, but I believe I'm a better person for it. I learned life's lessons. You're given certain gifts and that's what you should try to be." "It's been a fantastic revival of my life. As you know, my first marriage didn't go so well, though I have a relationship with my sons, but this marriage has been a second beginning. I used to think my career was number one, so I was gone nine months out of a year, but I learned the hard way that the most important thing is that you start at home and then comes the career." - On his marriage to Jennifer Flavin "I think the people who have been so supportive and loyal will be happy with the final chapter in Rocky Balboa's life because I think we bring the character to a final and noble conclusion." "I enjoy comedy very much, but it just wasn't right for me. Sometimes it's better to just stay focused and do what you're really passionate about." "You wake up one morning and you go, 'What happened? Where did it all go so fast? There are many more things I want to do.' And I figure a lot of people feel the same. A lot of people have so much they want to do, but society says, 'Step back, youth must be served.' I say, 'You're right, youth must be served - after us. Get in line. We're coming back for seconds and thirds, and when we're finished helping ourselves, it's your turn.' Just because people get older doesn't mean they abandon their dream or their ability to want to do something, so Rocky is symbolic of still wanting to participate. Rocky says the last thing to age is the heart, so I wanted to do a film that shows our generation is not on the outside looking in; it's still vital and wants to be part of the parade, not watching the parade. I want to show that life is not over at 50. People say, 'Come on, grow old gracefully.' No, why? I'm not ready. I know people will think Rocky is my story, but it's also my generation's story." "I knew I would go through the embarrassment of hearing all the jokes about me. My wife begged me not to do it, and that's why I wrote a line into Rocky that I'd rather do something I love badly than to feel bad about not doing something I love." - On Rocky Balboa Maybe these movies wouldn't have been as interesting five years ago, but look what's happened in the world in that time. It's a whole different climate, now." - On Rocky Balboa and _Rambo IV: Pearl of the Cobra (2008)_ "I'm now starting _John Rambo (2008)_ and I'm looking for a young actor to star opposite me. I've been looking for the next Robert Mitchum or Steve McQueen, but the fact is they just don't exist. Tough guys today are getting their hair done at Hollywood hairdressers. Whatever happened to having a beer and scratching your balls?" "You'd have thought we all got together and decided how we could fastest ruin our careers." - On Rhinestone [On "40 Days of Musa Dagh," a book about the Armenian Genocide that he has wanted to direct for years]. The hero, the one who set up the rescue, has fallen asleep...The camera pulls back, and the ships and the sea are on one side, and there's one lonely figure at the top of the mountain, and the Turks are coming up the mountain by the thousands on the far side...an epic about the complete destruction of a civilization...The Turks have been killing that subject for 85 years." "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." "I never had extraordinary genes or great bone structure, and I'm still very thin. What I try to do is create a body that every man can look at and say, 'You know, with a certain amount of dedication I can achieve the same thing.' I try to keep it in the realm of athletic, rather than unapproachable." Speaking of his life with a wife and three daughters: Living in a house where you are the only man is a little like being the only guy left at The Alamo. They just rule. Even our dogs are female. So there is no chance.

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